You know what really matters most is the person you are becoming. It isn't really about having consistent MUG times. MUG times are just a means to an end. They just help you practice connecting with God so that you can be connected with Him as you move through your everyday life.
What happens outside of MUG times is probably more important than what happens in them. How are you doing with being with people in a way that allows you to see their need and love them? I practice this with my patients each day, under the bridge once per week, and in daily encounters with people. Much of the time, I am just my old self, reacting from my own perspective (not under the rule of God). But there are other times when I am able to be attentive to people, look them in the eye and listen, and respond in love. It is in these later times that I begin to experience life in kingdom of heaven now. There are many benefits that we will need to blog about at another time.
Jesus spent most of his time preaching, teaching, healing, and being with people, lots of them! He was quite busy, but busy doing what the Father told him to do. Yes, he got away for some MUG time from time to time to be with his disciples or to be alone. But he always came back to the people to do his Father's work.
We need to learn to be like Jesus. To do what he did. How can we learn this? The disciples learned by listening to Jesus teachings, by reading the torah, by watching Jesus do his ministry, by practicing doing what he did and reporting back to Jesus for feedback. This is social learning theory in action - the best way to learn to change.
Our discipleship program should include teaching (good books, bible study, sitting under someone's teaching), watching a mentor demonstrate how to do what is taught, intentionally practicing it yourself, and getting feedback from your mentor.
Zac is doing some of this under the bridge this year. He comes down almost every week. At times, he will follow me around and just watch me serve food, pass out clothing, or just try to make a social connection with the homeless. He also steps out and tries to do those same things. We talk about it. This is similar to the model Jesus used with his disciples.
We can do some discipling together if you come with us to Arkadelphia. If not there, next Sunday, let's go together to a black church in a poor part of town and we can do some discpling there.
MUG times are more for silence, solitude, meditation, contemplation, and prayer. These are all disciplines of the heart. Bible reading, depending on how it is done, is good for knowledge about God (head), but if done reflectively, can be a discipline of the heart.
I like to think of MUG times as important practice for living life in the kingdom of the heavens now.
You being coached now in BBall? You practice? How much time do you spend at it?
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Dallas Willard said: "To perform appropriately in the moment when you're "on the spot" you must be preparing when you're "off the spot."
MUG times are "off the spot."
The moments in our daily lives where are faith gets lived out are "on the spot." Thomas Kelly calls this "continually renewed immediacy." A continual present or now.
See how MUG time fit in? See how the lack of MUG times might make it hard to live the Christian life in the moment?
We must have been posting at the same time!
In many ways, it can be exactly like going under the bridge. They might not be as physically needy or oppressed, but they are undying souls. They have the spiritual needs as the rest of us. When you are with them, just have a conversation with God going on in your heart. Ask God how you can show them love. Look them in the eye and pay attention to them. Try and be aware of how God is present and active in that situation.
So, you are being discipled in basketball. You want to do what your coach can do. You want to be like your coach. So you practice 4.5 hours, three times per week. You don't expect basketball skills to "rain down on you." You sit at the feet of the master (coach) and learn from him, do what he says, and are open to his guidance. Why do you do all this? Probably because it is fun (though not always) and your life is richer by doing it. But there is also a committment to work hard and give up some things.
See the parallels? But what are the benefits of learning to be like Jesus?
Excluding the obvious church answers that we could both spout off, like getting to go to heaven when we die. The short answer is that life is better.
The longer answer comes in trying to articulate how it is better.
On a broad scale, the #1 would have to be a sense of purpose and meaning. No other purpose has such a grand cosmic scale. This leads to freedom from existential dispair(do you know what this is?), which is not small thing. People jump off building because of this. This sense of purpose should not be underestimated. It is always in the background my life.
There is much more, but I have to go for now. I will post on this some more, because it is a very important question. Failure to understand the answers probably is the reason why many do not choose to follow Jesus.
Think about it another way. As a believer and a disciple (I count you as one. You have decided to not just believe in him, but to follow him, right?), how is your life different than Christian non-disciples, or "good" unbelievers? This is an excellent question. It probably will require some thought and deep introspection. Try it.
What did Jesus say life would be like if you followed him?
Note those last two questions are different.
One relates to what you have actually experienced.
The other relates to what Jesus said. You can know this, but not have experienced it. This is the difference between knowing and being.
Try not to equate the two.
Sounds like you got it right with existential dispair. We (humans) are all in the same boat: struggling to find meaning and purpose. That is the feeling we get when we do not have it.
That feeling will arise in times of doubt. Faith frees us from such dispair. This is huge.
So you are striving and unbelievers and non-disciple Christians are not. What are you striving for?
What is Jesus offering besides freedom from existential dispair? He says to follow him and he will show us the way. Where does this way lead? The church answer is heaven, but is that answer complete? Is it all in the future? Do we just believe now and trudge through life waiting for the good life in heaven?
Check out John 15:11 and John 10:10.
Barklay, a commentator, Wrote:
"A Roman soldier came to Julius Caesar with a request for permission to commit suicide. He was a wretched dispirited creature with no vitality. Caesar looked at him. "Man," he said, "were you ever really alive?" When we try to live our own lives, life is a dull, dispirited thing. When we walk with Jesus, there comes a new vitality, a superabundance of life. It is only when we live with Christ that life becomes really worth living and we begin to live in the real sense of the word."
Now comes the hard part, or at least the part we need to search for: How do we live in Christ? How do we live in the kingdom of God now?
In all your striving, Aaron, I hope you are not experiencing angst, frustration, restlessness. If you are, something is wrong. It is not supposed to be that way.
See what Jesus said in Matt. 11:28-30
Have you heard of the concept of "thin places"? It is a Celtic Christian term to describe places where the perceived distance between you and God "thin".
You probably have experienced situations were you felt relatively close to God. For example, walking by yourself through the woods, or listening to a favorite worship song, or doing a particular spiritual discipline.
One of the things you can "strive" for is to intentionally put yourself into thin places regularly.
Will God be pleased when you get to heaven? I do not think you should worry about that. There is a line in a song I like that sums up what it will be like:
"In the end, in the end there is oceans and oceans of love, and love again"
You will fall flat on your face as this ocean engulfs you. Whatever thoughts were worrying you will be gone.
5 pm at the latest, probably sooner.
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