Deep-End Discipleship

 “ Fear of the Lord is where wisdom begins;     sure knowledge is for all who keep God’s laws.         God’s praise lasts forever!” - Psalm 111:10 CEB - So if you have tuned in at all during this last summer’s Sunday night youth fellowship times, we have been looking at what does it take to be wise. (God pities the fool!) I admit that wisdom is one of those topics that just fascinates me about our faith and the call that God gives us as Christians. It feels like an embodiment of literally chasing after goodness. We are told to be wise, but what do we exactly do to make wisdom? We are told that wisdom is a virtue, but rarely do we get or gain wisdom instantly. We can’t just download an app, approve an update or change to a better wiser model. Even in our Scripture, we are told that wisdom begins with “fear of the Lord” but that easily seems like a phrase that is just tossed around in the Bible...

“I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from this world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.   This is because I gave them the words that you gave me, and they received them. They truly understood that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours.   Everything that is mine is yours and everything that is yours is mine; I have been glorified in them.” - John 17:6-10 CEB You know those phrases that are natural responses in conversations? Things like, “okay, love you, bye” or, “talk to you later”  are things that we say without even thinking about it. It’s these phrases that we have become so comfortable with so they just roll off the tongue. I also think that the phrase, “I’ll be praying for you” is something that we say without really thinking a...