It’s more than a novel

 (By Rick Lambert)

Polycarp, a destroyer of our gods, is an illustrated guide to how we are discipled to be devoted followers of Christ.  Instead of taking the principles of discipleship and writing a non-fiction work, I chose to frame those principles in settings of adventure, sorrow, intrigue, victories and defeat.  You know – real life experiences.

I didn’t want to write another “how to” style of book, but rather sought to illustrate the tremendous joy of being grown by God through the power of his Spirit. I desired to show how true discipleship is not a method or prescribed steps of action, but is actually God using the anvil and hammer of life to form us into a people that live in the light of his glory in a dark, godless world.

Remember in Romans 4:18, how that Abraham grew in faith as he gave glory to God?  Well, that’s an inspired portrait of how God disciples us.  We look to him; we see his work; we discover the gloriousness of his promises, and he grows us.  Another picture is John 15 were we discover we are the branches on the vine of Christ, and as branches we bring forth fruit to the glory of God.  The branch was grown to do what is was supposed to do – bear the spiritual fruit of the Spirit.

My novel uses the life of Polycarp to show how God is accomplishing this cultivation and growth in our lives, customizing it to the trials and blessings we experience every day.  God wastes no trials and spares no blessing when it comes to making us holy like Jesus is holy.  This is the aim and end of true discipleship.

When Jesus called his disciples, he told them “follow me, and I will MAKE you to be fishers of men…”  The work is the Lord, and we are the workmanship.  We are the ones being worked on.  We are a lovely vase being filled and emptied, and filled and emptied again.  We are vessels of honor bring light to the world and being the salt of the earth.  We are to be examples others can and should follow.  Our godly reputation should be stellar in the eyes of a judgmental work that hates Jesus Christ.  But we can’t accomplish this on our own, or by going through a ten-week discipleship course.  Discipleship is a lifetime of training where God is our mentor.

I urge you to take a look at Polycarp, a destroyer of our gods and see for yourself the adventure of being not only a disciple of Jesus Christ, but living as on in the sanctification of being constantly discipled by him.