No holds barred discipleship - 09 Jan 2007

Can a true disciple be other than a ‘no holds barred’ disciple of Christ?  Is it possible to follow Jesus ‘just a bit’?  What does the Bible tells us?  What does Jesus say about it?

A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.……So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. Luke 14:25-33

 One thing is certain – I’m not there yet!  If I’m truly honest, I don’t know if I want to be – but I want to want to be!  Do you?

I sense a movement of more and more Christians who want to be ‘no holds barred disciples’.  And that’s what we need; a Band of Brothers* to share the quest. Men and women who will be real with each other, encourage each other, challenge each other, pray and worship with one another.  The journey will be tough, but maybe not in the ways we’d like.  Remaining loyal and persevering through daily routines and boredom may be the battles we face.

But the reward will be worth it.  It MUST be worth it.

"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. Mark 10 :29-30

God bless

* substitute “sisters” if you are a woman