Words: 696
Time to read: 4 minutes
If evangelism is the heartbeat of Jesus, then discipleship ought to be the breath that sustains the local church. This is exhausting, demanding work but is an absolute necessity to bring believers to maturity in Christ. Discipleship is often a seemingly trivial conversation (to you, dear mature believer) or answering questions that you settled most likely long ago. It’s easy to be cynical of the issues that new believers count as impediments to their walk with the Lord.
Recently, I had a conversation with a young couple that had been out of fellowship for several weeks. Preparing for my time with them I was thinking about just what the problem could have been. I knew it was not a matter of health and I had asked but received no definite answer. Perhaps it was a disagreement in their marriage? Perhaps a financial issue?
Come to find out, one of their cats had died and they were both mourning its loss.
Personally, I find no loss in cats going to the great beyond. I’m not a cat person. I’m not really a pet person. Call me calloused and insensitive I just never have had the impulse for a pet (other than a turtle that hibernates for 4 months out of the year). For me to allow my pet’s death to inhibit my prayer life, Bible reading, or church attendance I see it as petty. And perhaps it is.
But, perhaps it’s not so frivolous after all.
Satan doesn’t play fair. Especially for a newly saved person anything and everything can be fraught with doubts and discouragements in their walk with Christ. As I was counseling this couple I reminded them that Jesus truly does care about our littlest fears and discouragements. As life goes I’m sure this couple will face other circumstances that some would consider far worse than losing a cat. I know that I have. Yet it is so easy to lose sight of the fact that Jesus cares for each and every little hurt that we have. Maturity is needed spiritually, but may we never lose the wonder of His care in the ordinary, simple joys and pains of life.
I had to almost stop and listen to myself as I was talking with them. Jesus cares.
As we grow in Christ there is a tendency to forget the tender care of our Savior and His infinite gentleness and kindness towards us. It’s perhaps in the apparently insignificant matters of life that He shows us His greatest mercies and yet we’re so readily ignorant or incognizant of His dealing in our hearts and lives. We trust Christ with our eternal destiny but are reticent to confide or intimate our daily cares to Him.
As the conversation unfolded, I was reminded of Paul’s words to the Thessalonian church: “We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.” A mother, or one caring for a small child, does not petulantly drive away her children when they ask a million banal questions. A mother does not ignore the minutia or cower from the daily grind of caring for one who cannot attend to himself. We love to see people be born again. Our heart is passionate for souls. But the real work just began the moment they trusted Christ as their Lord and Savior. There is a constant need for attending, consoling, helping, nurturing, and protecting that baby Christian. There will be times that they mess up. There will be times when you have to spoon-feed them. There will be times you have to lovingly admonish them. There will be times you will answer an inherently obvious question—or you’d think it was. Just go ahead and do it anyway. With love. With joy. With gentleness. Don’t be guilty of just giving the Gospel. Enter into the new believer’s life. The growing pains of the new believer were yours once. Help them along. They’re dear to God. They should be dear to you.