Which Chair Are You?

Everyone reading this article is on a journey. Where is your journey taking you? As a Christ follower, do you know what road you are on?

Someone invited you to "Come and See" Jesus. You said yes to the invitation and the journey began. As you go, Jesus summoned you to "Follow Me", and on the expedition, through obedience and discovery, you grow to be more and more like Him.

The trip continues and accelerates as Jesus signs you up and equips you to become a worker (as Pastor Mark reminded us on Sunday) to "fish for men". You no longer sit in your Lazy Boy recliner, but you become available to be used, faithful to grow, teachable in action and attitude, responsive to align with God's vision that all should know Him.

Being infused by the Spirit of God, your growth in Christlikeness splashes onto the lives of others and you "bear fruit" - your journey multiplies, and you are transformed. You make a difference.

In a nutshell, these are the Four Chairs we recently learned about in a disciple-making class. Each of us sits in one of these chairs. Each of us is on a journey through life. When asked, "How were you impacted by the Four Chairs training?" two friends answered with the following:

Attendee #1: The story of a life that was changed after numerous years of being in church week after week - a person involved in serving, attending whenever the doors were open, and yet he did not "get it" after 30 years. This struck me in a powerful way and made me sit up and listen more carefully. The impact of the story came when an amazing transformation occurred and that life finally surrendered in childlike faith. I asked myself, "Could that be me? Am I totally surrendered? I know what to do and yet why do I seem to waste time by not doing it?" I want to be more committed to daily seek the Lord through prayer and the Word. I can even see that in a mentoring relationship I have something to offer and something to gain. I now realize that I no longer have to become better, be more informed about the Bible or even know all theological answers. I just have to be willing to be available in my normal life journey. It is God's job to change a life, and He will begin with me. My decision that day was to become a fully surrendered Christ follower, willing to go, to do whatever He asked.

Attendee #2: The most helpful take away for me was that it is not a program, not an event or even special training that will be pivotal in someone else's life to bring change. It is relationship and lifestyle that will bring about transformation. When I do life in the nitty gritty of everyday happenings, natural interactions, someone will observe. It is in the unimportant things that I may be noticed by another, as I pour into them, as I love on them, as I am intentional in looking like Jesus and developing His character in my own life; these are the things that will be "caught" and don't have to be taught for another to meet Jesus. God is constantly at work to advance His kingdom. He uses the lifestyles of His kids, and sometimes even their words,  in up close and very personal relationships to win one. What the Holy Spirit revealed to me was a new way of seeing life and Christ in it. I know in a fresh way that I have something to share and it is God's job to use it to bear fruit.

Those who do not know, those who have not seen, those who do not follow are missing life's greatest journey. What road are you on? Which chair are you in? Are you willing to get out of your Lazy Boy?
--Janice Adams