Cultivating Deep Discipleship
September 15, 2026
From Brian Fisher’s Soil and Roots, August 11, 2026 edition
(an adapted excerpt)
Things that Make You Go Hmmm…
If God’s first invitation, the Creation Mandate, remains active and is central to our purpose as apprentices with Jesus, it raises some pressing questions.
If we are co-stewards with God over creation, shouldn’t those who love Jesus be among the primary active voices and participants in caring for nature? I’m not talking about radical environmentalism, but shouldn’t those who love our Creator God and the created world be among the first to express concern for endangered species, proper and equitable construction, and working on ways to help humans flourish while still honoring the created order?
Yet we’d be hard-pressed to find such efforts in many corners of the church. Most Jesus followers I run into have never thought about it. Such is the logical result of an escapist idea.
I’ve occasionally been asked if apprentices of Jesus should be involved in politics. If we are to rule and reign with God, government is obviously one realm of creation and culture in which some of us will be called to participate. I’m not talking about the pitfalls of Christian nationalism or forcing people into power to create some twisted version of a theocracy. Rather, to become more like Jesus is to engage in the places He calls us to promote human flourishing, and for some people, that will certainly involve government.
What about the arts, business, media, or education? Are those realms of creation and culture that are ripe for redemption? Indeed, they are.
The reality is that you and I are engaged in destroying or reforming creation and culture every day. We are all already ruling—the question is whether we are ruling alone or with Jesus.
Most of the time, living out our purpose as vice-regents is mundane and ordinary. How we tend our lawns, wash the dishes, and care for our kids really matters. Co-stewarding with God doesn’t require us to move around the world, start an organization, or run for the school board.
However, it does mean we might take a few minutes to dig deep into our hearts to uncover our ideas of purpose. Do we function from the idea that we are co-regents with God, involved in the ongoing redemption and reformation of creation and culture? Do our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, relationships, and words reflect someone who views themselves as part of Jesus’ reclamation of the planet God created?
Or do we find ourselves longing to escape, content to hunker down, avoid sinning, and wait to pass on so that we can enjoy the really good stuff?
The Good Life Is Here
Perhaps this is one reason our ideas of purpose matter so much. Deep discipleship isn’t ultimately about becoming increasingly peaceful, secure, and loving people so that we can enjoy better internal lives while we wait to leave the planet. Jesus is forming us into those kinds of people because they are precisely the ones who can wisely and lovingly care for what our Creator has made.
The Good Life, then, isn’t an escape from creation. It is a way of living within it. As we become increasingly secure in God’s love, less controlled by fear and anxiety, and more capable of self-giving love, we also become increasingly able to join Jesus in the ordinary work of redemption. We raise children, build businesses, make art, tend gardens, serve communities, create technologies, care for animals, participate in government, do the laundry, and love our neighbors as apprentices of Him.
Maybe that’s a better answer to the question, “Why are we here?” We are here because God created a good world and, remarkably, has always intended to share its care and development with us, whom God loves beyond measure.
Sin certainly distorted that vocation, but it didn’t erase it. Jesus didn’t come simply to rescue us from the world. He came to reclaim The Kindom, restore us to our proper place within it, and teach us how to steward it with Him in love.
So perhaps the question worth considering isn’t simply, “What do I believe my purpose is?” Pay attention to the life you are actually living. Does it look like the life of someone waiting to leave, or the life of someone learning, slowly and imperfectly, to care for the created world with Jesus and our Creator?
Brian Fisher is the founder of Soil and Roots, an organization committed to cultivating deep discipleship. Soil and Roots helps form and support small groups of people who gather regularly to become more like Jesus, restoring the New Testament model of community-based spiritual formation.
Song for Meditation: Heal the World (link), Michael Jackson (Production credits below) *
There's a place in your heart
And I know that it is love
And this place could be much brighter than tomorrow
And if you really try
You'll find there's no need to cry
In this place you'll feel there's no hurt or sorrow
There are ways to get there
If you care enough for the living
Make a little space
Make a better place
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place
For you and for me
If you want to know why
There's a love that cannot lie
Love is strong
It only cares for joyful giving
If we try we shall see
In this bliss we cannot feel
Fear or dread
We stop existing and start living
Then it feels that always
Love's enough for us growing
Make a better world
So make a better world
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place
For you and for me
And the dream we were conceived in
Will reveal a joyful face
And the world we once believed in
Will shine again in grace
Then why do we keep strangling life
Wound this Earth, crucify its soul?
Though it's plain to see
This world is heavenly
Be God's glow
We could fly so high
Let our spirits never die
In my heart I feel you are all my siblings
Create a world with no fear
Together we'll cry happy tears
See the nations turn their swords into plowshares
We could really get there
If you cared enough for the living
Make a little space
To make a better place
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place
For you and for me
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place
For you and for me
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place
For you and for me
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place
For you and for me
You and for me
Heal the world we live in (You and for me)
Save it for our children (You and for me)
Heal the world we live in (You and for me)
Save it for our children (You and for me)
Heal the world we live in (You and for me)
Save it for our children (You and for me)
Heal the world we live in — Save it for our children
*https://youtu.be/IIC98sAmT5o?si=4XTPlMaa5ONI5Iz4 Production Credits Original Songwriter: Michael Jackson; Generation & Arrangement: Assisted by Suno AI Metadata & Description: Assisted by Gemini AI Visual Art & Background: Generated by ChatGPT (DALL-E) Video Editing: Crafted with CapCut & Veed.io. Copyright & AI Disclosure Copyright Disclaimer: This is an orchestral cover of "Heal The World." We do not own the original lyrics, melody, or composition. All rights belong to the estate of Michael Jackson and his respective labels (Sony Music / Epic). AI Disclosure: This content was created using generative AI tools (Suno, ChatGPT, Gemini). It is an artistic reimagining and is not intended to impersonate the original artist or replace the original work.
Comments