Woman to Woman: Three L’s of DisciplemakingSample

Love!

Love is the key to helping anyone draw closer to Christ. 

If I have thousands of amazing follow-up plans, a pantry full of great resources to offer, years of disciplemaking experience, and can quote the whole Bible, but don’t have love. . . . Without love, nothing I do in my attempts to help another woman grow spiritually is of any value!

One of my discipling mentors had a group of us draw a bunch of zeros across a page. He then asked how much they were worth. It didn’t matter if we had one or a billion zeros, they are all worth nothing! Then he had us put a one to the left of the zeros and told us that “one” represents love. It gives value to everything else we do! One zero with a one in front of it has greater value than a zillion zeros without it!

Love expresses itself in many different ways—from praying for her, to coming prepared with something specific from God’s Word to pass along that will help her mature in Christ. This is huge!  

Yes, there are times I toss out what I have prepared: If her boyfriend just broke up with her or her mom has just been diagnosed with cancer, it may not be the best time to talk about evangelism! But even then, I will ask the Lord to bring a passage of Scripture to mind that we can briefly dive into.

One final benefit of love in discipleship: It covers a multitude of sins! Seek to truly love well as Jesus leads you and it can make up for all sorts of bumbling. As a discipler still very much in process, well, bumbling happens! Relationship and trust grow when we humbly admit our failures and repair ruptures. Even in our failures we have opportunity to model how we (and she!) will always need Jesus and can continue growing in loving Him as His disciple.  

For more information on helping people grow spiritually, including The Wheel Illustration mentioned on Day 3, visit The Navigators. In addition, see our YouVersion Bible Reading Plans “Motivation for the Great Commission” and “Everyday Discipling.”