Every once in a while something comes along that changes your life completely. Ten years ago this week, that happened to me.
The time from 2004 through early 2006 was an extremely difficult era for me. At that point in time, I was confused by all sorts of new teachings about the church. I was burned out and feeling like a complete failure. We had planted two churches and both had failed within 5 years of handing them off to other leaders. In addition, we had been wounded deeply by various fellow believers, leaving us to doubt our ability to work in effective team relationships. Perhaps it goes without saying that my prayer life suffered, as I felt God was a million miles away.
Although this was a painful and lonely time, I never lost hope for spiritual healing and direction. In the parable in Luke 6.46-49, Jesus tells the story of a man who “dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.” Jesus’ teaching was always profoundly simple, and in the midst of so much confusing clutter, I was desperate to find the simple yet rock-solid foundation upon which all my work should be built.
It happened one afternoon in May 2006 as I was reading the Scriptures, that my shovel hit something hard—it was Matthew 22.37-40. It was a very familiar passage which began, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” I realized that day that Jesus desires for us not to have merely a worship experience, but intimacy with God. I would quickly learn that this is strongly dependent on our obedience to Him, not just warm spiritual feelings.
Under the pressure of testing by the Pharisees, Jesus boldly offered yet a second command, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love (agape) is action, so Jesus was not talking about a feeling, but acting in love. His plan was that we live in authentic relationships, accomplished through a high level of mutual accountability to one another.
These commands began to make sense in light of the Great Commission, so I took a fresh look at Matthew 28.18-20. At this point in time, I was weary of hearing the words “mission” and “missional,” knowing that for most people these had become trendy buzz words with little change in their behavior. On that day, however, God laid on my heart His urgency to multiply His kingdom throughout the earth—the spiritual parallel to His first command to humankind in Genesis 1.28.
I sat there as I had these three commands before me, and in amazement realized that Jesus had spelled out the DNA of the kingdom in these three simple statements. In the first two, He actually summed up the entire teachings of the Old Testament in a pair of succinct yet powerful statements: “on these two commands depend all the Law and the Prophets.” In the third, he captured the essence of the entire New Testament and the forward movement of the body of Christ. On that day, I observed that every command in Scripture traces its way back to one or more of these “three great commands.” Why is it that no books I had read, nor sermons I had heard, nor conferences I had attended, were giving emphasis to these great foundation stones of the faith?
And so, my life changed that day because I sensed that God was giving my life a new foundation and a new direction. He gave me a new “aim” in life; my purpose in life was to develop accountability to one another, grow in intimacy with God, and work for the multiplication of the kingdom. It was that simple.
I began sharing these three basic commands with many people, believers and unbelievers alike. I found that they not only understood, but were able to repeat them back to me with understanding. The complex had become simple. For the first time in over two years, I felt the warm and inviting light of hope. I was so energized because I could see how these simple truths could bring courage to so many other people who were wading through the insane complexities of our modern-day Christianity.
And now, ten years later, this amazing triad of commands—the “AIM Pattern”—continues to be the framework of everything I do: training disciples, leading groups, coaching, retreats, sermons, even one-on-one discussions. And far beyond anything I imagined, it is becoming the pattern for disciples in countless nations around the world. Strangely enough, it’s nothing new; it has been there all along, right there in the pages of our Bibles.
Are you ready to get back to basics? Let’s dig through the complex rubble of human wisdom and get back to these bedrock principles—not just to learn them, but to put them into action. I assure you, your life will change!
