My lawyer sister, Lois, works at a law firm that contracts with a social media company. Once each month, the firm is deluged with calls from people needing help. Lois calls it “Algorithm Day.” The advertising lead generator hits, people in the area see the firm’s ads, and those who need help call.
All of us with a “smart” device live in perpetual Algorithm Day. Talk to a buddy about buying a camper and the next time you’re on social media, five advertisements pop up for campers.
Here’s a way to think about it:
An algorithm is a series of written steps for a computer to build a matrix that attracts you and motivates you to the benefit of someone’s product or cause.
Now think of this discipleship algorithm:
Discipleship is a series of written steps we take to motivate, guide, and lead men into specific actions that benefit their faith and the faith of others, which fulfills God’s purposes for our lives and builds God’s kingdom.
If we haven't disciplined our habits, we have chosen to be “discipled” by the random algorithm of the internet. Instead, we can choose to be discipled by the Word of God.
Here’s the right pattern:
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Plant a thought, reap a word. Because out of the abundance of the heart your mouth will speak.
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Sow a word, reap an action. Because you will do what you say.
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Sow an action, reap a habit. Because the actions you continually do will become habits.
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Sow your habits, reap character. Because the habits you commit to will develop your character.
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Read God's Word to think Christ's thoughts, then sow His words, take God-directed actions, develop positive habits, and build good character – which is Christlike manhood.
Every day is Algorithm Day. We can be drawn into what someone else wants us to think, what culture wants us to say or act, to become the men "they" create. OR we can be the radical men of righteousness.
Be radical. Be counter-cultural. Don't succumb to "their” cultural algorithm. Make your own, starting with God's Word.
The Word is what we bite into each day. The Word directs our thinking so our mouth speaks God's wisdom - over ourselves, over our families, over the guy in the next cubicle, over the clerk at the DMV. As we speak God's truth, our actions develop into habits that build character.
To change your life, change your algorithm.
This is CMN's core mission: transformational discipleship —change from the inside out.
Like all the men in the CMN brotherhood, you were born for significance. And like all the men of the brotherhood, we are all in need of Jesus every day, no matter where we are or who we are.
Start with God's Word. Build on the solid rock of Christ.
Your friend, brother, and ally.
Grace and Peace,
Paul Louis Cole
