It takes a father to give birth to a son. Son from the Latin root "su" means "to give birth." Obviously, not everyone that follows you is a spiritual son or daughter that you have 'begotten through the gospel." Franky, some may be autonomous sheep, disgruntled goats or barbarous wolves. While others are just good people passing through. So, how do you constitute who your spiritual sons and daughters are?
One clear indicator is PURSUIT. Those who pursue you relentlessly. You don't even have to be the one who led them to the Lord. I've had many people ask me to be their spiritual father...but one of the defining factors is PURSUIT.
My calendar stays full and if I don't set it...other people will. I normally do not have enough hours in a day to accomplish all that needs done. Just like you, my time is very valuable to me to the degree that I have to be selective and make sure I'm spending my time in the right way with the right people. I want every minute to count!
When traveling to serve in various ministry conferences and meetings, I try to be aware of who is present. If I take the time and expense to travel to the meeting and the people who've asked me to mentor them or enter into a spiritual father/son relationship with them won't attend (when they live there)...then I know they are just talkers.
I would rather spend my time with
WORKERS, not TALKERS.
WORKERS, not TALKERS.
PURSUIT is how you identify spiritual sons and daughters. Talk is cheap...but PURSUIT tells you who they are. If they are not pursuing you then you need to focus your premium time with those who ARE pursuing. It's those who pursue that you can actually do great things with and help them become CHAMPIONS! These are the people who you'll end up making the greatest impact with!
It's just like I said previously, I've had people ask me to be their spiritual father...but when I tell them that they need to meet with me on a weekly basis...and I even provide a one hour session (it varies from group to group) on Tuesday mornings at 5:30 AM...that's when you find out who is just a TALKER.
If we can't do the easy thing (motivate ourselves to get out of bed early once a week...and tell our flesh that our spirit man is in control) then we'll never survive the tough places of ministry.
I recall one time having a leader tell me "all I ever do is teach leadership lessons when I bring our leaders together." She continued to say, "I hear you preach and teach all the time already." I wasn't shocked by her statement (although it was very rude)...I simply looked at the fruit of her life and it was screaming "lazy, burned out, cold & indifferent." It didn't take long until she resigned her ministry, backslid and left the church all together. Obviously, I did everything I could to keep her encouraged, communicate and lead her in the right direction. However, you can't make people come UP...they simply have to have it in them! AGAIN it boils down to...PURSUIT!
I've learned over time to make myself available to everyone...but only give my premium time to those whose TALK matches their WALK.
My spiritual fathers taught me that when they "SET THE TABLE"...then it's up to me to get to the table with my plate & fork while they're serving the meal. (AKA...Bible, journal and ink pen!) They serve the food...I have to be there to receive it...and NO EXCUSE is good enough to be a "NO SHOW" when they're serving up a gourmet feast or even just a snack!
If I can make it to sports games, practices, dinners, movie nights, etc...then surely I can push my lazy carcass to do what's NEEDFUL for my spiritual development...thus strengthening my PURSUIT to become a spiritual son. Come on somebody...say amen! (SMILE)
More to come...
