Becoming a Community of Disciples

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Becoming a Community of Disciples

Becoming a Community of Disciples: Learning to Be Intentional about Our “Rule of Life” Every Christian leader must learn the importance of a regular daily time with God. Some call this set time “devotions,” “quiet time,” “prayer time,” or simply “my time with the Lord.” Yet as important as this time is, we know that our pursuit of God involves much more than a daily devotional time. What do we call the wider intentional pursuit of God in our lives as individuals and as families of faith? Across the centuries, the most common term for a disciple’s plan for pursuing God is a “rule of life.” What is a “rule of life”? In simplest terms, it is an intentional plan for growing in our relationship with God. The word “intentional” in the previous sentence is of great importance. Jesus’s brother, James, challenges us to “draw near to God.” The best of rewards is promised for those who obey—we discover that God responds by drawing near to us (Jas 4:8). For the lover of God, there is no greater reward than the presence of God (Ps 27:4). For thousands of years saints who know that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him have been intentional about how they order their time on a daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual basis in order to better seek the Lord. Consider Daniel, who three times a day spent time in prayer as his “rule of life.” Consider other Old Testament saints who paused to make morning and evening sacrifices as part of their daily “rule.” Consider the author of Psalm 119 whose rule of life consisted of eight daily “pauses” for prayer: “Seven times a day I praise you” (v. 164) and “at midnight I rise to praise you” (v. 64). In the New Testament we find the disciples pausing at the “hour of prayer” to talk with God as a regular habit. Like many other