Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The Way of Discipleship: a vision to be a person of generosity.


Live generously. This is the life we are called into; a journey we take once we step into being a disciple of Jesus. Being generous is often attributed to giving to others who are in need. Jesus calls us not to merely act generously, but to be generous.  Our identity is in Christ; who sacrificially gave his life for our rescue. From the incarnation to the resurrection, we see in Jesus a life that was devoted to restoring communion between God and humanity. We learn from the Gospels that Jesus creates a beautiful picturesque of God's love. By healing the sick, eating with sinners, forgiving the condemned, and dying on Calvary we see  in Jesus a love that is set apart from this world. It generously extends grace rather than condemnation, forgiveness rather than accusation; and mercy rather than uncompassion. With this in mind, we follow Jesus by offering grace, forgiveness and mercy to those around us. This generosity shows our obedience to God and our devotion to the Gospel.

Practically, what does it look like to be a person of generosity? What is the cost of being a disciple of Jesus?  These are the kind of questions that people of faith have been asking for generations. We learn that Jesus addresses these questions  throughout the life of his ministry. With the Scriptures at our fingertips, we are able to investigate Jesus as he develops his disciples to be the leaders of the Church.  By surveying the Gospels we can begin to answer these questions. The hope is we can come to a fuller understanding of what it means to be like Jesus; living selflessly, out of our love for the Father, for the sake of the Gospel, through the power of the Spirit.

The premise of this blog is the journey to pursue an understanding of  this hope. I invite you to journey along. Together we can follow in the footsteps of Jesus;  living generously in order that the world can see God.

 

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