DISCIPLEOSOURUS

1 Corinthians 11:1 "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ."

When thinking about discipleship, my mind naturally goes to the topic of dinosaurs...doesn't everyone's? I have always been fascinated by the topic of dinosaurs.  I remember being amazed in elementary school science class at the textbooks of what these colossal reptiles looked like.  I loved hearing about the different types of meat eaters and vegetarians and the way that some dinosaurs were predatory hunters and others were passive grazers.  My teacher would teach with such certainty about how the triceratops would defend itself with it's powerful three horned charge or how the Stegosaurus would use it's massive mace like tail as a strong defense against the sharp teeth of the Tyrranosaurus Rex or a charging pack of Velociraptors. 

But as I've grown older I've realized there's a huge problem with all of the science around dinosaurs..no one has ever actually seen a living dinosaur!  Almost all of it is educated speculation.  By the bone fossils left behind we can deduce that there were dinosaurs.  We can even get an idea of their skeletal structure but we would know so much more if we could just see them and their behavior in real life. 

We as disciples of Jesus are a lot like dinosaurs.  We are the only living example of what it looks like to follow Christ in the world today.  The unbeliever does not go the instruction manual of scripture or the example of Jesus to see what it's supposed to look like.  They are listening to what we say but significantly more so, they're watching what we do.  They don't know what we should be doing or what it's supposed to look like..they are looking to us to show them what we are.

This is also true of new believers who come behind us.  Though they do go to the authority of scripture and the perfect example of Jesus, they're still looking at us to see how the Gospel is lived out in our modern context and all of the unique dilemnas, temptations and opportunites in the cultures we live in. 

In a way, we are the like the dinosaurs in the movie Jurassic Park.  But instead of mosquito DNA, we've been reanimated by the Spirit of God and if we let Him, the blood, flesh and skin of our Lord is spiritually being added back to our bones so that the world and all who come behind us can have a clear picture of how Jesus and those who follow Him lived and loved.

Father, we help us to look like Jesus, to act like Jesus, and to love like Jesus so the world will see You and how much You love them through us.