Discipleship is at some point about practicing what Jesus preaches. To come and sit at the Master’s feet to learn is a process intended to get you back on your feet to go.

The disciple never replaces or supersedes the Master. “It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.” (Matthew 10:25) The Master never comes to obey the disciple’s will. The disciple delights to obey his Master’s will. “We have only done our duty” (Luke 17:10). 

Teaching and learning might be two sides of the same discipleship coin and inseparable, yet we are often content only to be acted upon by Jesus. Our discipleship, though, is not designed to remain in the passive voice or state, but to move into the active one. There comes a point in time when we must act upon Jesus’s words and commands.

There is a time for everything under the sun. A time for Jesus to comfort and to heal us. To draw near and to be with us. And there is a time for Jesus to command us and to send us out.  

There is a time to pray and to meditate. A time to worship and to wait. A time to ask that our needs be met. And there is a time to pray for the sick and to comfort the afflicted. A time to welcome the stranger and to be with the orphan. A time to give sacrificially and to serve others generously.  

There is a time to repent and there is a time to bear the fruits of repentance. There is a time to ask for forgiveness and there is a time to begin to behave differently towards others. There is a time to ask for wisdom and there is a time to make a decision.  

Discipleship is at some point about getting out of the boat like Peter. It’s about appealing to Caesar and going to Rome like Paul. It’s about breaking a bottle of perfume like Mary. It’s about making garments for others like Dorcas. It’s about giving the two small copper coins you have like the widow in the temple.  

The good and faithful steward, Jesus taught his disciples, was not commended by his master because he knew a lot about stewardship. Though surely that was important to his being a good and faithful steward. Rather, he was in the end commended because he had done what was pleasing in the master’s sight. In other words, he knew his master’s heart and he had done his master’s will.