It’s that time again, holidays are right around the corner, and school has been in session just long enough for football season to be drawing to a close. If you’re like me, there have been numerous new relationships formed and some of them are showing remarkable interest in the spiritual things that characterize your every day life. Some may have begun to attend your small group or Sunday School class, others may be intentionally spending more time with you at work, school or lunch, and perhaps some have even come to you for advice about relationships, addictions or some other personal struggle. The question is, among all those new prospective disciples, who do we zero in on as those with whom we’ll spend the next 6-18 months walking through life together?
To be clear, we’re not asking how to pick favorites, but we are asking how to pick what might be called intimates (i.e. Jesus selecting Peter, James, and John for special assignments).
I asked a friend about this some time ago, and his advice totally caught me off guard.
“Pick out the fat ones.”
“Come again!?”
“Pick out the fat ones…those who are faithful, available, and teachable. If you’re going to invest your life into them, they need to be faithful, available and teachable. If they lack any of those three qualities, move on to the next guy.”
I’ve come to realize that when I have a roster full of potential disciples, most of them will weed themselves out by a lack of either faithfulness, availability, or teachability. To find a person who consistently demonstrates all three might be considered a “God thing” specifically designed for you to obey His command to make disciples (Mt. 28:19).
As you begin to extend invitations for Tuesday morning Breakfast & Bible Study, keep an eye out for the FAT guys. They may run up the tab a bit, but the investment you make will reap innumerable rewards in the long run as God continues to do amazing things in and through you all.