Page 11 - Called to A Follower template

Back when Jesus was still on the earth, Being a follower was not a once a
WRITE YOUR PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON THESE QUESTIONS week activity or practiced in your spare time. It was a 24/7 Commitment. The
Rabbi or Master picked you because he saw in you the most potential to be-
come like him; this means that you would spend a lot of time together. You
would start by dressing like him, then walking how he walked, living how he
Based on these bible passages, How does God begin to restore your Char- lived. The master's most enormous task was to show you how to apply all the
acter? scriptures you had memorized and lived them out daily in every aspect of your
life. You see, there is a fascinating phenomenon that happens to us humans
_____________________________________________________________ when we spend time with a particular person: the more time we are with them,
_____________________________________________________________ the more we begin to copy each other. From the way we talk to the way we
dress, and even how we act when we are on our own.
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Think about your best friends or roommates. When you first met them, some-
_____________________________________________________________ thing “clicked” in you. It felt like this person was almost just like you. Then the
_____________________________________________________________ more time you spend with that friend, the more you got to know what they
liked or disliked, and if you spend enough time with them, you will almost begin
to think like them. This is evident with older people, like your grandparents.
Next time you visit your grandparents or an older couple, watch how they com-
How does prayer and reading scripture help us know who God is? municate with each other. There are minimal words, mostly gestures, or facial
expressions; they move about their home doing things for each other, almost
_____________________________________________________________ telepathically.
Your master would not hide his personal life from you. You would be a first-
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hand witness to how he lived his private life. How he spoke and cared for peo-
_____________________________________________________________ ple, what made him angry, or cry, every facet of the rabbi’s private life was laid
_____________________________________________________________ out for you to see. There was to be no division between what the rabbi believed
and how he lived. The Rabbi would also get to know you, and what you were all
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about, he expected the same transparency he was showing you. This was done
to build up a follower’s character; you, as a follower, would begin to copy how
Do you think there is a way we can help each other become better fol-
your master lived out his nature.
lowers of Jesus? To our western eyes, this seems restrictive and contrary to a culture that values
individualism. The idea of giving up your control to anyone for any reason is to
_____________________________________________________________ be avoided or at least treated with great distrust. We must remember one
_____________________________________________________________ thing; when we chose to become followers of Christ, we surrender everything to
him. Everything. All because He wanted us so He can change our character to
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match His. He does this little by little, as we spend more time with Him in prayer
_____________________________________________________________ and worship we begin to learn the sound of His voice, as we read scriptures we
_____________________________________________________________ can see what God’s character is like and become aware of areas in our character
that are not yet equal to His. All required is time and trust. You will then slowly
begin to see that your Character is being shaped to be more and more like Jesus
until one day you realize that you know Him and what His character is like that
you do things in your everyday life that are just what He would do. Without
effort, without struggle, God realigned your character and all He sees in Jesus
through you.