I always found catching fish easier than cleaning fish.   Not that I am that good at catching fish, but cleaning fish is not easy.   It smells.   Your hands become filthy.   The fish is so slippery that it moves all over the place.   And what do you do with all the guts?   Years ago I would bury the guts in the ground, but we had this dog that loved to dig them up and roll in the mess.   And then we would have that stink all over again.   Cleaning fish is not easy.   Perhaps that is why professional anglers always catch and release.

But I love a good fish dinner!   So I labour through with the uneasy and messy job of gutting, descaling, and cleaning the fish I catch!   The end is truly worth the means.

The same can be said about discipleship!  Having someone commit their life to Christ is not the goal in our Christian journey.   Becoming and being a Christ-follower is a lifelong journey of putting off the old self and putting on the new.    The Bible puts it like this:   "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24).  In Proverbs 20:9 the rhetorical question is asked:  "Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin"?  The implied answer is "no-one"!   We all need to be cleaned up!   Like cleaning a fish this can be messy and is not necessarily easy.    Growing to maturity in Christ takes a lifetime.

So how do we get cleaned up?   The Bible again is very helpful.   It explains that  to be made holy, we need the cleansing that comes by the washing with water through the word -- the Word of God. (Ephesians 5:26)   New believers and growing disciples need to regularly read and understand what the Bible teaches.   Reading and understanding.   Reading the Bible is not enough.   You can hear what God says in the Bible but still do not understand what it means, how it should impact your life (see Matthew 13:14).  Understanding is applied knowledge.   You take what you read and apply it to your life.   As you understand what God is saying, you put his Word into practice.  The blessing of a cleansed life results from both hearing the word of God and obeying it.  (Luke 11:28) 

Recently I began discipling someone who responded to the gospel with repentance and faith.   To help him on his journey I simply gave him 50 days of Scripture readings.   Along with the readings I gave him a Bible and instructions how to read the Bible.   The key was that each day as he would read the Bible passage, he would keep reading it until God was impressing some truth on his heart, something that he could personally apply to his life.   At first this did not come easy, but I helped him along the way.  He would write down in a journal what God was saying to him through his Word.  Gradually understanding was being added to knowledge.   And his life was beginning to change and continues to change.   For the better.   He is being washed by the water of the word.   He is discovering a life of faith, hope, and love.   Joy is being restored.  And the journey continues.

So if you are just beginning to follow Jesus or if you are helping someone to get 'cleaned up', get into the Word.   Allow God's word to wash over you and those you disciple, and see the dirt disappear.   Here is the Bible Reading Plan (thanks to Shoreline Church) I use with someone who is taking first steps in their spiritual journey.   Or check out the Discipleship Matrix.   It is packed with suggestions to guide people into spiritual maturity.

Getting cleaned up.   That is what discipleship is all about.   Not easy at first.  It could get messy.   But like cleaning a fish you caught, the end is truly worth the means.