Everyday Disciples

​I had a conversation with a friend today about a couple of local Christian schools. She was asserting that there is a difference in intake philosophy between the different systems. I was curious to hear more about this so we continued to talk about how one school allowed almost  ​anyone to enroll, taking on a posture towards reaching the community for Christ, whereas the other school only 

Carley Walker

allowed the best-behaved children and had a stringent interview process to vet the children and their families. You see, the latter states that they are attempting to make disciples, thus, they need the 'cream of the crop'. I left the conversation feeling uneasy. What kind of message is this sending to children and their families? 
 
I mean, we simply need to take a look at the actual disciples to see that this is not at all how Jesus approached finding his gang of super cool, but also super broken friends and followers. Simon (Peter) was strong-willed and impulsive. He likely would have never passed the "behavior test". James and his brother John were known as "The Sons of Thunder" because they had such stormy personality traits. They were quick to anger and judgmental. Again, I'm not so sure these guys would have made the cut! Then we consider Thomas, he was gloomy and easily discouraged. You can see the trend here right?! Then there is Matthew, he was considered the lowest of the low, a TAX COLLECTOR *gasp*, surely he would not have even been considered. In addition to being a tax collector, Matthew was terribly self-absorbed. Finally, Judas is a man who ultimately showed he was a betrayer, liar, and thief. Yet, these are the men Christ chose to represent him while he was on the earth and afterward. 
 
I think there is a valuable lesson here. We can choose to view people with a critical lens thinking to ourselves, "Man these people simply won't cut it!" or we can choose to support the everyday people who have an open heart and an open mind to learn how to be a disciple for Christ. We are all on this journey together. It is so much more beautiful when we can make mistakes and learn together. I think that is exactly what happened with the disciples and Jesus. 

In His Name, 
Carley