I'm back with our thinking about becoming a better disciple. This is the third installment of the thoughts of Henry Knight III on Life Enriching Practices of United Methodists. The first section was on longing in life or Longing for God. The second was about Knowing about God or Knowing God. My contention is that the best way of Knowing God is to know Jesus Christ who we can know in reading the gospels and being in a relationship with Jesus.
Today we take on one of John Wesley's great contributions to discipleship, going on to perfection. We are not perfect, but we can be working on perfectly loving in all we do.
I had the opportunity to do a funeral for a gentleman the other day, who had a string of perfect attendance pins at Methodist Sunday school on his lapel in the casket. His wife said he tended to be a perfectionist in his life. He may have caught some of that working on perfect attendance at Sunday School. But perfectionism, or perfect attendance does not make you an automatic disciple or apprentice of Jesus. Perfectionism or going onto perfection is not a performance, but a loving attitude. We need to find ways to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as Jesus loves us. (Mark 12: 28-35)
As pastors in the United Methodist Church we are asked just before we are certified and again just before ordination, the historic question of John Wesley, "Do you believe you are going onto perfection?" In front of all of annual conference we are supposed to answer "Yes!" and really mean it. So we try to grow in perfection and love. It's not easy but it worth working on. The 8 life enriching practices will add together to help make us a good apprentice and representative of Jesus.
One of the biggest misunderstandings we have about love is that it is emotional. That we should feel love. That impression has come to us from our culture and years of romantic inclinations. Our huge divorce rate happens sometimes because we stop feeling "In love" with the other. Love is really more about doing the right thing, the best for the other, regardless of how we feel. That's why Jesus commands us to love.
For John Wesley, perfection was loving to the best of our ability, and as long as we were heading in that direction, we were doing the best for what God asked us to do. John's practical applications were to help us to love better than before. He was trying to improve our love life, which might get people's attention now.
So for John improving our love included a deeper prayer life, a devotional reading of scripture, participating in the Lord's supper regularly, worshiping frequently, being involved deeply within a Christian community, living with a lifestyle that was guided by faith, caring and serving neighbors in need and being able to share your faith journey with them. We will look at each of those this summer.
Come along for the ride.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
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