Imitating the Teacher

A pupil is not above his teacher, but everyone, after he has been fully trained will be like his teacher. Luke 6:40

Jesus is my teacher. Do I see Him as my teacher? Do I turn to Him when I'm perplexed? Do I turn to Him over other sources of information? Do I act like I believe Jesus is relevant to MY  life in the 21st century?

Made this myself!!!!

My heart's desire is to be like my Teacher. I want to imitate Him, reflect Him, emulate Him, resemble Him, live like Him, follow Him - be His disciple.

I will do this as  I am "fully trained" by Him. I can be transformed into His image; I only have to surrender to the training regimen. There is no room for apathy or laziness in this course. I am enrolled in this course through grace, I will complete this course by grace.

God has graced me with the spiritual gift of teaching. I dare not attempt to teach until I've been taught by the Teacher.

I've been reading The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard and some quotes had me thinking about Jesus as  my teacher before I read this verse. 

"Where we spontaneously look for "information" on how to live shows how we truly feel and who we really have confidence in. And nothing more forcibly demonstrates the extent to which we automatically assume the irrelevance of Jesus as teacher for our "real" lives." (page 56)

We settle back into defacto alienation of our religion from Jesus as a friend and teacher, and from our moment to moment existence as a holy calling or appointment with God. Some will substitute ritual behavior for divine vitality and personal integrity; others, may be content with an isolated string of "experiences" rather than transformation of character. (page 55)

And since I'm on a Dallas role - these three questions are SO good for evaluating many things: what I share with my children,  what I share with a mentor group, what I speak at a retreat, what I teach at  PWOC etc.

• Does the gospel I preach and teach have a natural tendency to cause people who hear it to become full-time students of Jesus?
• Would those who believe it become His apprentices as a natural "next step"?
• What can we reasonably expect would result from people actually believing the substance of my message? (page 58)

Interesting that the above was written on 6 Mar (Yeah, I don't always type each a.m.), before any PWOC theme brainstorming. ::snort::  This topic of discipleship, following, imitating has been recurring as I read through the gospels, hasn't it? 

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...