2 Peter 1:15

2 Peter 1:15

And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.

This verse flies in the face of modern outreach practices. We are so concerned as evangelists to go spread the gospel that we are not concerned with the earthly future of those who come to know Christ. Think about this for a second, the Bible tells us that prior to salvation we are all enemies of God (Rom. 5:11). But once we become Christians our enemy is Satan. So while we are in sin God is our enemy but He loved us enough to die for us. Now that we are saved our enemy is one who hates us with a passion and is seeking to devour us (1 Peter 5:8). So when we tell someone the gospel and they accept if we do not follow up with them then we are setting them up for failure. If we are not diligent to pursue the people we share God’s word with we are actually very selfish! How can I say that? We shared the greatest news with these people right? Yes and this is a good thing. I know many of you have heard this so many times but we are not called to make converts we are called to make disciples. It is true that there will always be a time when we will be called away from the people who have influenced our spiritual walks just as we will be called away from those we have influenced. The question we must ask ourselves is after our discipler leaves are we in good enough shape to live for God on our own? When it is time for you to leave your disciple have you been diligent, knowing that they can feed themselves? We do not want to make many shallow, empty, powerless converts but we want to develop strong, righteous, powerful disciples of Jesus Christ.