“Apprenticed to Jesus”
As it states in The
Message written by Eugene Peterson, “you’re blessed when you have worked up
a good appetite for God.” This phrase
speaks volumes, especially when it comes to us looking upon ourselves and this
world as apprentices of Jesus.
The disciples were those first apprentices. Everyday of their life following Christ was
marked by his ministry. His teaching,
healing, prayer, voice of power and praise of pointing to the Father, his
compassion, forgiveness, clear words of redirection and purpose, sacrifice,
peace, centeredness, footsteps on the way to the cross, his pouring out of body
and blood, and his profound joy lived in light of the resurrection, all was
gifted to the apprentices.
Imagine on this day being apprenticed by Christ
himself. Imagine the above elements
being front and center in your daily life.
Imagine God giving God’s best to you. When the leader speaks the
apprentice listens. When the Savior shows
how to live, the apprentice follows that same way of life.
In the living of our days, we need a Savior to apprentice
us. We need the Word of God poured out
into the very situations we find ourselves in.
We need to be showed how to live as the full people of God. We need to witness the marks of discipleship
in order to fully live as the Church.
What a gift to receive – for God’s own Son to be the One who apprentices
us.
Through the empty tomb God looks upon God’s creation and
says, “You’re hired!” “You are the Ones
that I raise up for real life and love.”
“You are my people with whom I seek to shape the world into Gospel
living.”
Blessed are those who live as Christ lived, who model their
apprenticeship and thus become a shaping force so that others may receive that
same apprenticeship gift that we ourselves have received - for they will
receive the kingdom of heaven, the comfort, the inheritance, the being filled
up, the mercy, to see God, to be children of God, right here and right now.
Our Savior’s, we have been blessed to be a blessing. May we be apprenticed by Christ himself and
may we pass that gift, that legacy, that Christ-like life onto future
generations.
From one apprentice to another,
Rev. Dr. Chad Johnson
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