Radical Discipleship

While I was considering what to blog about today, it seemed appropriate to give an insight into what we are learning in class. I will give a brief overview. The following was only a little bit of a whole day's discussion.

Today we began a discussion entitled, Radical Discipleship. Fred Allen, our instructor for the week, is a bit unorthodox in his approach. But he is very engaging and enjoyable. Today we began by breaking the terms down so there was clarity in what we were actually discussing.
Radical: to go to the root or the original template
Discipleship: the process of being a follower and student

With that terminology in mind we began to look at Acts 2:42,

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Most of our discussion today centered on the meaning of devotion. One interesting idea Mr. Allen put forth was that Jesus can't be your first priority. If He is your first priority, there is the implication that there is a line behind Him of other priorities. He has to be THE priority.

After that discussion, we began talking about that to which we are devoted. First, the Apostles' teaching; conveniently captured in a best selling book we call the Bible. An interesting idea brought forth during this discussion was that obedience precedes understanding. (John 7:17, 31-32)

More objects of devotion to follow during the course of the week.

One other quote I found interesting was,

"Our redemption drew near when the Book became the Boy."

Grace,
Tom

p.s. It was interesting that at church yesterday, Annalise excitedly introduced us to a man who had been her teacher once during COD, Fred Allen. How ironic that we have been going to the same church with our instructor.