It's Not About You!

by Ray Willis

Those words can seem so offensive…especially in certain contexts. They are, however, liberating when applied to discipleship.

We do a number of one-day discipleship training seminars each year, and, invariably, questions from seminar attendees crop up that express insecurity about the ability to effectively and confidently disciple someone in a one-on-one relationship. Questions like “What if I make a mistake?” or “What if I can’t answer a question that is asked of me?” are normative. Our answer is simple: It’s not about you. Let me explain. We want to encourage people to look
beyond themselves by adopting the attitude that God has put them in that relationship to serve that person. It’s not about how well we answer questions or how quickly we can locate passages of scripture. Nor is it about how effective we are at teaching or how impressed people are with the lucidity and eloquence of our speech. Rather, it’s about putting on the mind of Christ and serving that person right where they are…in that moment. It’s my experience that
when we focus on ourselves or our insecurities, the less effective we are. But, when we seek to serve and recognize that it’s not about us, we allow room for the Holy Spirit to transform and illumine.