by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
Paul includes many instructions on living as a disciple. Some we tend to emphasize more than others, but they are all inspired by God. I find the most difficult ones to follow are the ones that don’t fit my personality or abilities. I know I am not alone in this, for most of us tend to gravitate towards the instructions (commands?) that are easiest for us to follow.<\/p>\n
For example, Colossians 4:5-6: “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person<\/em>.”<\/p>\n In our exuberance to spread the gospel, we can easily become overbearing and even insulting. Such pushes us to begin using ‘carnal weapons’ – insults, threats, intimidation, etc. We find that going down this path often closes doors of communication rather than causing people to want to follow Jesus.<\/p>\n What does your speech sound like to your ‘opponents’? How gracious are the words that you use? Maybe you can detect why this is often one of the more difficult characteristics of discipleship to actually follow. This is particularly true on any social media platform. When we have no real face-to-face encounter with the people we are communicating with, it becomes easier to lose any graciousness. Just read the comment section on almost any post anywhere on the internet and see how ungracious the responses are.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong Paul includes many instructions on living as a disciple. Some we tend to emphasize more than others, but they are all inspired by God. I find the most difficult ones to follow are the ones that don’t fit my personality or abilities. I know I am not alone in this, for most…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[667,118],"class_list":["post-94469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-organization-of-the-church","tag-paul"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":96673,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/philemon-onesimus-and-paul\/","url_meta":{"origin":94469,"position":0},"title":"Philemon, Onesimus, and Paul","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong How do you respond when you read something in the New Testament that you have trouble agreeing with, or that you're unsure whether you would, in that situation, obey? I will not give you my list, but over the years of learning and growing as a disciple,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90594,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ii-corinthians-and-paul\/","url_meta":{"origin":94469,"position":1},"title":"II Corinthians and Paul","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong \"There are many things I disagree with Paul about\u2026\" This was how my grandmother concluded our discussion on being faithful to the teachings of the New Testament. 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In Exodus 12, Moses instructs the Israelites to take an unblemished male lamb, slaughter it, eat it as part of a ritual meal, and apply its blood to the doorposts and lintels of their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/lamb-300x210.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7057,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/didnt-the-christians-in-troas-worship-on-the-sabbath\/","url_meta":{"origin":94469,"position":4},"title":"Didn’t the Christians in Troas worship on the Sabbath?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You will realize that in Acts 20:7 the meeting and breaking of bread were done in the night, meaning, or if we may presume, that these people had been worshiping together on the Sabbath. 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