Potty Training For Your Soul

As anyone who has kids can tell you, most times potty training isn’t easy.  It’s not just pointing your infant towards the toilet and saying go ahead and use it.  Instead there is a lot of training that is involved, from how to sit on the toilet all the way to how to flush and everything in between.  Most of the time the child will do well for a bit, regress a bit, and then finally figure it out, and from that point there isn’t much instruction needed. 

If something like potty training is so difficult, why do we as Christians often act like discipling a new Christian is less work?  While our mission on earth is to go out and make disciples, we often forget that it’s more than just talking to someone, pointing towards heaven, and then walking away.  Discipling a new believer takes time, and we need to be walking alongside the new believer and being there with them the entire way.  If we’re there with them as they start their journey, then they will have someone there to help them if they stumble, someone who will keep them going in the right direction.

When was the last time you helped lead someone to Christ?  Did you stay with them once they accepted Christ into their life, or did you just leave them alone from that point?  Just remember that the job isn’t done when you show them the door to heaven, you have to show them how to walk through it as well.