FROM DISCIPLE TO APOSTLE

 

And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: (Luke 6:13 NKJV)

At the basis of all things there is a divine order. We hear it in the noblest music, we find traces of it in the highest art; we are in contact with it in our purest and simplest meditations. Our souls bear witness to its beauty and truth whenever it confronts us. Our Lord Jesus bears a true witness to this in His beatitudes, and the enunciation of other principles, which appeal to our conscience as right and good. As we travel in His company along the road, we find He explains mysteries and enigmas in a fashion which appeals to our heart; we know that He speaks the truth. Finally, we come to a point where He passes beyond the road of our knowledge to the upper reaches of the mountains which we have not walk on before. He speaks to us of the nature of God, He assures us of the forgiveness of sin, and He draws aside the veil from the unseen and the eternal. He lifts us into a new and blessed vision of the working together of all things according to the eternal purpose. And we who trusted Him where our own conscience substantiated His statements, are able to trust God, and follow Him when He deals with questions which eye hath not seen, nor the heart of man conceived. Thus we become His disciples, or pupils in His school.

Out of the disciples, our Lord chose some to be apostles. We begin by learning, and after a while, we are sent forth to teach. During the first years we serve our apprenticeship, and afterwards we are permitted to be master hands. The disciple becomes an apostle, and the apostle is chosen not for his own comfort and enjoyment, but that he may be the instrument through which Christ achieves His eternal purpose. Election is not primarily to salvation, but to service. We are not chosen that we may be sheltered from destruction, but that we may go forth to serve men, to teach them the law and love of God, and to help bring the world into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

PRAYER

Most blessed Lord, we thank You that we may become Your disciples. Give us teachable hearts and listening ears; may we sit at Your feet and be molded according to Your mind. Oh, choose us, and send us forth, and trust us with Your sacred ministry, fulfilling in us the good pleasure of Your will. In Your holy name I plead it, AMEN.