One of my favorite classes I attend at my Health Club is an interval class. Our instructor, Halli is fantastic. The format she uses is called Tabata training. You do a series of 4 different exercises for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds. And then another series. It is an intense hour! She is great at showing you how to adapt the exercise to work for the individual. Here is what I noticed recently as I was traveling and staying at a hotel. The treadmills were all occupied so I couldn't use them. No problem. Because I have been taking Halli's class I knew just what to do. She had shown me how. The exercises themselves are very simple. Squats, or push-ups, or lunges or holding a hover. Easy to remember, and repeatable without the instructor in the room. Overtime, I have learned a variety of exercises so I could vary my routine out on my own.
The same can hold true for discipleship when you show others how you follow Jesus. You can sit with them and show them how you read the Bible. (In my opinion, this works better one on one than in a classroom with lots of people.) You can take a short passage and read it with them. Take a moment and write down what in the passage pushed a button with you, or challenged you or spurred on an idea. Summarize what you discovered. Then ask yourself these two questions: What is God teaching me in this moment? And what am I going to do about it? That is a simple, repeatable process of reading God's word that your friend can then do on their own. And you can adapt and try out different ways of reading the Bible.
There are other classes offered at the health club but I don't go to many of those. I am comfortable with the work out and have made some good friends in Halli's class. I saw one of those friends the other day and she was getting ready to teach a cycling class. I told her I have never tried cycling class. She invited me to try it out and told me what time she would be teaching. There it is, another lesson learned. The power of invitation. We need to be able to not only know HOW we follow Jesus. (reading God's Word, prayer, discerning His will, knowing our story, serving using our gifts etc.). We need to know WHO we can share it with. WHO can you invite to show how you follow Jesus so they can learn alongside of you and follow Him too? It is also good to sometimes breakout of our comfortable routine, and try something new.
There is one final lesson I learned at the health club. I work out much harder and have way more fun when I work out at the gym. (shout out to my back row ladies at Pinnacle!) When I was alone at the hotel doing my intervals, I did less and didn't push myself as hard. Living our lives with others in community has the same effect. There is accountability. We are challenged and encouraged. And, it is way more fun!
How do you follow Jesus? (What step by step process do you practice? What simple patterns have you established in your daily rhythm?). Who will you share it with? I'd love to hear from you in the comment section.