Leadership Begins with Discipleship in Four Areas of Christian Life

Following Christ Today - Committed Discipleship

Four Necessary Elements For a Life Committed to Following Christ

The need for balance and wholeness

One necessary element is to live an integrated life - one that is marked by balance and wholeness.  Our Christian thinking has been influenced in history by philosophies or mentalities that tend to compartmentalize or put into separate categories, aspects of our persons, professions, careers, family life, economic life, and other spheres of our contemporary lifestyles. This type of thinking, usually influenced by the early Greek philosophiesthat have been adopted by early Christian writers, make us think in a way that what we do in our family life has nothing to do with what we do with our professional life.  We now know that this is not true.  We realize that our living this way tends to make us disintegrated personalities - with a different self relating to God, another self relating with others, and a different self relating with the world.  If we are called to live more in integrity, balance, and wholeness, we can start thinking that whatwe think, decide, and do in one area of our life can be the same thing we would think, decide, and do in another area of our life.  The more we let it flow into all areas of our life, the more we can attain integrity, balance and wholeness.

The need for healing and growth

A second element to consider is to be oriented towards healing and growth - both in the personal and social dimension.  We are all broken people who are wounded not only by our past experiences but also by our sinfulness and our weakness to resist the temptations of the world.  This brokenness in us affects our relationship with God, with others, with the world, and even in relation to our very selves.  The solution therefore is to be foundin a way of life that is directed towards healing and growth.  Only by this healing and growth can we relate better with God and with others. This direction of healing and growth can be taken by all of us who are willing to frequent the sacraments of reconciliation and the eucharist.  The more we frequent these sacraments, the more we become whole and effective in our following of Christ.  And as we continue on in this direction, we will soon realize that we are also called to lead others in this same direction: to accept their woundedness and sinfulness and return to Christ through the sacramental life of the Church.

The need for an intense and ardent prayer life

Another element to consider in our following of Christ is to live an intense prayer life that would lead to a stronger commitment to care for others, to care for the earth, and to care for cultures - especially for those which are entirely different from ours.  Our prayer life would be a practical benefit for both ourselves and others if it leads us to a greater spirit and energy and zeal in leading virtuous lives - lives that positively influence others to also do the same.  In order to live an intense and ardent prayer life, it is important to inculcate a sense ofdiscipline in the spiritual exercises we have committed ourselves to do. The strength of our commitment in following Christ depends so much on how we are able to practically live out a regular, consistent and constant life of dialoguing with God in prayer, meditation and contemplation. One of the best forms of living out this intense and ardent prayer life is by celebrating the Eucharist as often as we could and making adoration and contemplation before the Blessed Sacrament part of our spiritual regimen.

The need for local and global awareness

One last necessary element to consider in our following of Christ is the need for awareness of the local and global situations.  In these our times, it is easier to be informed of what is happening because of the great and global reach of the media, especially the Internet.  The Internet will help us situate how we are to practice our Christian faith if we know what is happening in our local or national scene and what is also happening in other countries and the world as a whole.  Our actions may be limited tothe local situation, but our prayers may expand to include not only the needs of our local or national situation but also the needs, issues and problems that we get to be informed with as regards the other peoples of other countries. There is a saying in theology circles about a way of practicing our Christian faith that encompasses both the local and global scene.  This saying, which has now become a modern theological classic is simply stated as, "think globally, act locally".