“We fall into the error of thinking that happiness necessarily involves ease, diversion, tranquility – a state in which all of one’s wishes are satisfied. For most people, happiness is not to be found in this vegetative state but in striving toward meaningful goals. The dedicated person has not achieved all of his goals. His life is the endless pursuit of goals, some of them unattainable. He may never have time to suround himself with luxuries. He may often be tense, worried, fatigued. He has little of the leisure one associates with the storybook conception of happiness. But he has found a more meaningful happiness. The truth is that happiness in the sense of total gratification is not a state to which man can aspire. It is for cows, possibly for the birds, but not for us.”
-John W Gardner, Excellence
Quick Thought: Are you pursuing happiness through gratification or purpose? Gratification is fleeting and rarely fully satisfying, but purpose in Christ through discipleship is both fully satisfying and will last for eternity.
Why read this? As 2018 revs up, what are you giving yourself to? Read this to evaluate if your choices are moving you toward a life of self-gratification or toward a life of something more.
Have you felt a tug at your spirit, a subtle longing that seems to promise there is more to this life than you’re currently living?
Have you paused to reflect on what kind of legacy you’re going to leave behind when you depart from this world?
How often do you simply stop and evaluate what you’re giving yourself to, and weigh whether it is simply good or the truly the best?
We believe that each and every follower of Christ has been entrusted with a calling, precious and imperative. We believe that it won’t stop its gentle knocking until you as a Christ-follower acknowledge it; that it will persistently tap until you allow it to enter and permeate your very reason for living. And we believe that if you guard it well, it will insinuate itself into every aspect of your life until you radiate such joy and contentment you will radically change not only your own heartbeat, but the hearts that beat around you, as well.
What is this trust that is not merely good but is truly the actual best? To what have you been called with such a vital urgency that Jesus literally spent his last words on its commissioning? It is simply, astoundingly, this: discipleship. The pursuit of Christ and His Kingdom through personal, individual attention from one person and then given to another. And then one more. And as the the two become four become sixteen, we are, as Christ commanded, bearing fruit and multiplying spiritual generations.
Are you ready to cease striving after things which will never truly meet the needs of your soul and instead apprentice yourself to Christ and His Kingdom? Are you ready to lay down your life and leisure to pick up His cross and the people He desires to follow Him for the joy set before you?
If so, we’d like to invite you – the courageous followers of Christ ready to advance His Kingdom – into The Apprentice Approach. Join us as we equip you to equip others to walk as Jesus walked for life.
