Impulsiveness or Discipleship?

It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord knows me better than I know myself.

I was reading this morning in Oswald Chamber's book "My Utmost for His Highest". I am a few days behind for the daily reading and I haven't had a chance to catch up yet. I decided to open to today's reading and the words seemed to jump off the page and into my heart.

"Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness (confidence), but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he "followed Him at a distance" on dry land. But Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. (Mark 15:54).

We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises...human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus.

It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God...but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people...and this is not learned in five minutes."

I spent last evening with a small group "bible" study. There was a woman there who just wanted to talk and talk and talk. She outright admitted that she did not read her bible every day and had no such desire to do so. She also said that she didn't understand it when she did read it. But she was constantly pointing her finger at us and accusing us of being intolerant of other's beliefs.

My first impulse was to tell her that she was doing the exact same thing that she was accusing the group of doing. She was being intolerant of us. I wanted to be "bold" and tell her a thing or two of what the word of God says. But I bit my tongue and sat there silent and let the leader handle the situation. I woke up in the wee hours this morning thinking back on the events of the night before and asking the Lord if I reacted the way He would have me react. I got my answer in the reading for today!