apprenticeship

'Following Jesus' sounds fine.

But I realised this evening in talking it through with some folk that it's actually rather a nebulous sort of a notion.

How do you follow Jesus, in other words? What does it look like in practical terms? What are you meant to do?

I can see now that for the person who is keen to 'follow Jesus' and desires to 'know new life' these are important questions. How do you actually do it?

We were talking about the way to read the Bible on your own. The discipline of daily Bible study.

And we did a 'random' exercise. I wanted to show that wherever we turn in the Bible, there'll always be something we're able to profit from there: and I wanted to show what I meant.

So to make it quite clear this wasn't a thing I'd prepared in advance, I suggested the person just open the Bible at will, and we'd start from there.

It was Job 34.

I have to say there are easier bits of the Bible at which it could've fallen open. But you take what you're given and start from there. We did.

We read the whole chapter. And then I explained what it's impact would be on myself. And how I'd go about this 'preaching to myself'.

This business of learning to live the new life is akin to an old-time apprenticeship. Starting the day with the master craftsman himself; learning each day some new skills as he teaches the truths of his word; working that out through the course of the day as we work alongside the Lord; and then, at the end of the day, being able to go over it all as we talk the whole thing through again with him.

For the person I was speaking with, it was, I think, a breakthrough. He was finally getting a handle, I think, on the new life we're called to enjoy.

Following Jesus was slowly beginning to take shape in a way he could understand.