Teacher, Do You Love Me?

I am challenged with a statement that Jesus made about being a disciple. He said these words:

 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher. – Matthew 10:25  ESV

Is it not true that the root, stem, bud, flower, fruit and seed are each constructed on the same type as the tree itself? No matter how diverse they may be in form or function, the nature of that tree is essentially there. So every leaf is a miniature of the tree on which it grows – trunk, branches, and foliage are each patterned in it. Every branch is but a reproduction, on a smaller scale, of the whole tree. What miniature lives of Christ are Joseph, Moses, David, Jeremiah, Timothy and even myself.

My reading of Jeremiah revealed his own thoughts of being called as a very young person.

 “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”  Jeremiah 1:6  ESV

Do I answer in the same way, do I have the same fear Jeremiah had when it comes to delivering the gospel message? I am not able to accept the same promise to address my fears?

The same goes for Timothy who was called as a youth into ministry. Look at the people he was called to face.

He is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. – 1 Timothy 6:4-5  ESV

Am I like my teacher? My feeling is that if I want to know what is in my heart and mind, I need to put the mirror of God’s Word before me and see what is reflected back. As a disciple of Jesus I will repent when needed and obey the truth when it is presented, humbly rejoicing in God my Saviour. If I oppose God, I will react negatively and even violently to the Word of God.