Jesus was born into a much more difficult world than us – poverty, disease, lack of women’s rights, government oppression, and so on. His solution to solving the problems of the world? It was to gather 12 men, teach them everything he knew, and commission them to go and teach others what they had learned about faith in life.

Remember his last words to the men he entrusted with his mission? “Go and make disciples.” Making disciples is God’s designated way to release the power of his gospel on every problem we face. According to Jesus, making disciples is the one thing that’s guaranteed to make a difference 5, 10, 25, and 100 years from now.

Notice that Jesus did not say, “Go and ‘become’ disciples.” Of course, you can’t give what you don’t have, so becoming a disciple is important. But for at least one generation, we have emphasized “becoming” at the expense of “making.” The result? Most Christians today are not contagious. We sneeze and nobody catches what we have. We have created a generation of spiritual overeaters who don’t “pass it on.”

So where should we go from here? However we got into the current situation, the only solution is to disciple our way out. If you have not been discipled, that’s your next step. If you have been discipled, it’s your turn to go and disciple others. Be sure to disciple your family first. That’s your most important priority. After your family, the place on the battlefield where you are most needed today is to disciple men. Be sure to teach your disciples to “pass it on,” since you’re not making disciples until your disciples are making disciples.