17 & 18 May 2025 (Pastoral Page) DISCIPLESHIP: THE BORING YET EXCITING LIFE WE HAVE BEEN CALLED TO

By Ps Lim Wei-en

Discipleship is boring. There, I said it.

It involves the same routines, the same struggles, the same prayers, the same Scriptures—day after day, week after week, year after year. We confess the same sins, fight the same temptations, and relearn the same lessons. Like a musician practising scales, a sportsman practising his strokes, or a healthcare professional administering the same procedures, discipleship is the slow, repetitive work of habit formation. Unlike many things in an instant society (instant food, instant knowledge, instant purchases), discipleship is far from instant and cannot be rushed. We “put off” the old self and “put on” Christ (Eph. 4:22–24) not overnight, but through a thousand small choices over decades: choosing patience over irritation, forgiveness over bitterness, trust over anxiety.

This shouldn’t surprise us because the book of Hebrew tells us that even Jesus, Son though He was, had to be “made perfect” (2:10, 5:9, 7:28) by His sufferings and obedience to qualify as our High Priest. He did this moment by moment from the steady security of His Father’s love, living a life of humble obedience. From Jesus, we learn that discipleship is nothing more than the “boring” grace of being made perfect through a gradual unravelling of our self-sufficiency as we learn, again and again, the joy of depending on God. In some sense then, there is nothing new under the sun in the world of discipleship. Seek the Lord. Apply the Word. Confess our sins. Love our neighbour as ourselves. Repeat.

But discipleship is also thrilling and exciting – not because of emotional highs or miraculous signs (though God may very well grant those), but because of the Holy Spirit who lives in us and daily breathes life into us through our spiritual routines. The same old prayers become lifelines to the Father. The same old Scriptures come alive as the living and active Word, touching our present life circumstances with its timeless truths. The same old struggles become arenas where Christ’s power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). And the same old spiritual disciplines become the vessels through which God’s all-sufficient grace is poured into our feeble lives.

The Holy Spirit isn’t interested as much in behaviour modification as He is in total life transformation. The greatest power in the universe is constantly giving us “everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Pet. 1:3) Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms is made available to us (Eph. 1:3) so that we may be transformed to the image of the Son (Rom. 8:29, 2 Cor. 3:18), for there is no higher calling than to be like Christ. What could be more exciting than participating in God’s redemptive work in and through us, the work of reconciling all things (even the most broken parts of our lives and our world) to Christ? (Col. 1:28)

The tension lies in holding both truths together. Discipleship is boring because growth is slow – like a tree sinking roots and bearing fruit or a child learning to become an adult. Yet it’s exciting because the Spirit works in our waiting and nudges us along in our efforts, turning our feeble “yes’s” to God into a harvest of righteousness. The “boring” disciplines of prayer, Scripture, and community aren’t chores if we participate in them by the power of the Spirit; they are means of grace given to help us know God’s love in the present, and rehearsals for eternity when faith shall become sight. God already knows what we be like when we fully grow up in Christ, and like a loving Father, His hand is outstretched, beckoning us towards that goal, one step at a time. (c.f. Phil 1:6)

So if you’re weary – if your life of discipleship feels like you’re running but not getting anywhere – take heart, and keep going. The boredom of yielding your life to God daily is the soil from which the Spirit will produce fruit in you. And let’s remember to do this discipleship thing together as a church, because we are not meant to do it alone. Like actors in a play, we may play different roles in the drama of discipleship, but we are in it together, with Christ the lead actor and God the director, guiding us. Let’s all keep showing up in church and CG week after week. Keep confessing. Keep praying. Keep reading the Bible. Being assured that the “boring” work of daily surrender and obedience is how God’s Spirit shapes us into people who, one ordinary day at a time, look a little more like Jesus.

And when we finally get there – when Christ appears and we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 Jn. 3:2) – it will be anything but boring.