What’s the heart of discipleship? I recently read through a book that aims toward a strategy for Christians to live faithfully in a post-Christian culture. Written just several years ago, it’s incredibly relevant to our future as followers of Jesus in North America. Among many worthy quotes, one statement jumped off the page and, I believe, answers this question:
What is the essence of being a Jesus-follower?
“To run the way of God’s commandments with unspeakable sweetness and love.”
~ Benedict of Nursia (480-547 AD)
What a short line yet rich with such truth and beauty!
I immediately think of three people who daily disciple others according to this poetic path of following Jesus: My amazing wife, Stephanie, my mother, Diane “Dee Dee”, and my mother-in-law, Dawn.
Being immersed in the constant challenges of mothering, grandmothering, and dealing with sometimes ornery husbands isn’t easy. Ha! Yet these special women consistently run the way of God’s commandments, and overwhelmingly, with unspeakable sweetness and love.
Most moms – and women in all facets of life – are daily inundated with pressures, unforgiving expectations, and bewildering stressors. Such is the nature of the twenty-first-century technology-modernity pinwheel.
But this Mother’s Day Sunday at the Wright-Patterson AFB Chapel, we’re going to discover God’s heart of overflowing grace through often forgotten and overlooked women in the Bible. Our grace-giving God invites us to thrive – to find hope, healing, and rest in Him.
I’m excited about this coming Sunday with all of you. We’ll sing joyful praises to our Redeemer. We’ll gather in reverent prayer. We’ll grow in the Word together. I can’t wait to see you there at 11AM!
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
Love in Christ,
Chaplain Michael J. Breznau
