Have you ever heard yourself say that 4-letter WORD? Maybe you said it with disgust, frustration, or disappointment. I find however that we often say it with a sense of pride. Someone asks, “How are you?, and we quickly reply: “busy”.
I’ve noticed that in recent years, the pat reply of “fine” has been replaced. These days it seems that we wear “busy” as a badge of honor, a sort of declaration of our value in the world and our impact on it. But what if it’s not? What if the health of our schedule is actually catalytic in ensuring we get to give time to the things that are most important?
When it comes to relational discipleship, we need to acknowledge that relationship and discipleship require the investment of time. Much has been written in recent years about time management, energy awareness, and healthy schedules (some helpful links below), but before we talk about “how” to create and maintain a healthy schedule, let’s look at “why” it matters so much in the context of discipleship. Here are 3 truths about how “busy” may be sabotaging your life as a disciple/disciple maker:
Truth #1 – We MAKE time for what is truly important to us
I’ve noticed this to be true in my life, I never run out of time to do what I truly think is important. At the expense of sleep or something else, I WILL find the time to duck hunt, to bow hunt, to watch LSU football or travel somewhere with my wife. It is amazing how quickly I can free myself up to do what I truly want to do. I think we are all like this. Our finances show that we will find the money and the time to do what we want (no matter the price of gas or the demands of our calendar). If a look at the reality of our schedule shows that relationships and discipleship are the things that get bumped, then maybe it is time to pause, and admit to the Lord that we have not prioritized HiS agenda over our own.
We love to convince ourselves that others have more time, but God has given us all the same 24 hours, and entrusted us the responsibility of deciding how we will use it.
Truth #2 – We will UNDER-deliver, 100% of the time, when we OVER-commit.
This is a humbling truth, that shows up in ways we often miss or misdiagnose. Tardiness, fatigue, constant need to reschedule, a backlog of unanswered messages etc can all serve as “check engine lights” for us that busyness may be inhibiting our effectiveness as disciple makers. We will find that Jesus great command to us becomes lacking in our schedule as we either miss opportunities altogether or show up less than our best through late arrivals, distraction and fatigue. Maybe a point of honesty is to simply confess to God our self-reliance and self-importance has led to over scheduled and under delivering.
Truth #3 – Our willingness to be interrupted is key in Relational Discipleship
The best disciple makers i know are the people who intentionally create margin in their lives for interruptions. They understand that relationship requires availability and discipleship happens in relationship. When we are scheduled to the limit, we simply don’t leave the margin of time or energy for those unplanned moments to listen or celebrate or share burdens. Discipleship often happens in those moments where we just know who to call, who can be interrupted
Do any of these truths serve to challenge an excuse in how you view your schedule? Below are some links that can help give further insights and some practical handles to grown keeping a healthy schedule that can be catalytic instead of limiting for the things that truly matter.
Make time! Make Disciples!
This post originally appeared at: Make Time, Make Disciples! – Relational Discipleship Network (rdn.org)
Because of the importance of intentionality in disciple making, we at Discipleship.org are going to emphasize this skill set and mindset over the next four months. Please join with us and seek to share understanding, insight, and practical tools so that you can become skilled at intentionality in relational disciple making and you can help those on your team or in your leadership group to do the same. There are four ways in which we are emphasizing intentionality to help you in the next four months.
- Discipleship.org City Tour Forums – our four City Tour Forums are designed to help you and your team both understand and develop an intentionality posture. The tour is comprised of one day, high impact forums where there will be teaching and round table discussions. Every attendee also gets a copy of Brandon Guindon’s new book, Intentional: Living Out the Eight Principles of Disciple Making.
Click the image below for more information.
Take the FREE Individual Disciple Maker Assessment – we designed this assessment with a team of national and international disciple making leaders to help each individual be able to evaluate their disciple making mindset and skill. Just by taking this assessment, you will gain an appreciation for the value of intentionality, along with a sense of how you can increase your own level of intentionality. Click the image below to take the assessment.
- Read the short FREE book, Becoming a Disciple Maker: The Pursuit of Level Five Disciple Making – Bobby wrote this short eBook with statistician Greg Wiens to help you understand the mathematical and practical impact of one person’s disciple making efforts and skills.
Click the image below to download this free eBook.
- Read Brandon Guindon’s book, Intentional: Living Out the Eight Principles of Disciple Making – Brandon wrote this Discipleship.org book and Zondervan is publishing, because the understanding and practice of disciple making is so crucial. Every attendee at each of our City Tour events (Nashville, Houston, Dallas and Raleigh), as mentioned above, will receive a FREE copy of Brandon Guindon’s book.
Click the image below to order Brandon Guindon’s book from Amazon.com.
Please join with us in this quest to better understand and practice intentionality. It will help us all to become more and more like Jesus, the world greatest disciple maker.