Walk As He Walked

“Faith is the steel of the soul.”— Amy Carmichael

Nothing was explained to the early pioneers of the church. Decade after decade, waves of oppression, persecution, and impending destruction buffeted those few lights scattered across Asia Minor and the Middle East. I think we are remiss to understand the early church as a movement, rather than the proclamation of a new reality. The early church was focused on proclaiming the reality won for mankind on the cross, more so than embedding theological truths on paper to be pontificated upon within the four walls of a building.

The discipleship that Jesus instructed His followers to engage in among the nations was not a discipleship from a workbook. It was not a discipleship from a podcast or a sermon series. It was not a discipleship that was meant to fit neatly into a bullet-point outline. Discipleship in Christ, is Christ. It is the transference of personal knowledge and understanding of Jesus Himself, to another human being. It is learning and observation and walking. It is showing your relationship with Christ by relationship. 

When Paul was in prison in Caesarea and Rome, he was chained to a Roman soldier. I wonder if Paul ever thought, “Lord when you said disciple the nations, this isn’t what I had in mind.” But Paul in prison, chained to a pagan is exactly what the Lord had in mind. Amy Carmichael states that the early church was “trusted to accept the unexplained..and not to be offended in their Lord.” She goes on to say that a great deal of what we call faith “is too flimsy to be called by so strong a word. Faith is the steel of the soul.” 

To disciple in Christ, we must know Christ. To teach others to observe, we must walk as He walked— implicitly trusting in the Father, rather than continually asking Him to explain Himself. 

(Matt 28:18-20) Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

(Mark 16:15,16) He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

(John 5:19) So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does.”