We’re now in week eight of our journey through a book called The Ways of The Alongsider: Growing Disciples Life2Life by Bill Mowry. The idea of an Alongsider might be an uncommon thought to some of us, but Bill does a great job with the details at the outset of the book. Then as we moved deeper into our understanding of what an Alongsider was we hit six topics of great importance to discipleship: A Way of Life, Intentionality, A Life of Prayer, Relationships, Depth of Relationships, and last week we talked about Studying God’s Word. This week we’ll move from mere conversation and telling to a deeper discovery level. Have you ever read a good book? You know the kind that just draws you from page to page and you just can’t let it down? Imagine now that you are deep in the plot of the game when someone sees the book cover and proceeds to unveil the end of the story. The process of discovery is completely ruined. Or think about the last time you missed the BIG game. You set your DVR to record the game and took painstaking efforts to ensure you don’t find out the results from anyone. When you arrive home, you turn the game on and start watching. It’s a real nail biter! There you are with only 1:30 to the end of the game when a good friend sends you a text completely blowing the surprise of the punt returned for a touchdown with 1 second left on the clock. Discovery can’t happen because you know the answer.
In the life of a disciple we’re to be on a life of discovery. The Alongsider continuously seeks to discover new truths and foundations in the scriptures. Unfortunately we have become a culture wiling to let people ruin the discovery process for us. The disciples in Jesus’ day were on a discovery mission every day. They walked into new places and learned new things from Jesus everywhere they went. Today, we seem to imagine Jesus in a classroom teaching through a PowerPoint presentation. There’s no discovery in a lecture. It’s humdrum and often extremely boring.
In the New Testament there are questions asked of Jesus over 180 times. That’s not all that shocking. The shocking part is that Jesus only answers 3 times in a direct fashion. The rest he answers with redirection, more questions and life experience. It seems that Jesus himself desires us to discover the moments in life that shape our faith and strengthen us for the next step. We don’t need to go to a special place to experience this life of discovery either! It happens in the classroom of life. It occurs where we live, work and play.
In the common, everyday moments we can see Jesus doing powerful things. We can learn new things from the Savior all the time. And there’s a comfort to being on a life of discovery. You don’t have to be an expert to make a new discovery. That means when someone asks you a question, you don’t have to have all of the answers. Rather you can invite them to make the discovery with you.
This week, take a few minutes and map out your discovery. Start with the relationships that already exist. Look at the promises of God in Scripture. Put the two together and see the doors that God opens for great discovery in the everyday.
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