Believer or disciple?
Posted in discipleship, Misti's Posts 0 comments
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23
Today's Christian leaders are beginning to realize where modern churches are going wrong in their philosophies. Books abound telling us that there is a huge difference between "belief" and "following". "Life at its very best is a passionate experience, not a doctoral dissertation. The problem is not that Christianity can't be believed, but that it can't be practiced because of its lack of lived experience." The Gospel According to Starbucks, Leonard Sweet. "In teaching people what it means to be a Christian, we spend much of our time and effort bringing them to a point of belief without clearly calling them to follow. We have taken "believe" and we have written that in capital letters with bold print: BELIEVE. But everything that has to do with following has been put in small print: follow." not a fan., Kyle Idleman. I have found myself reading several other books lately that essentially address the same issue. The question that still plagues me after reading all this is, "What's missing?" We can feel the convicting power in the question "has following Jesus cost you anything?", but Christians are still struggling with getting from conviction to action.
The truth is that Jesus wants all of us, and He doesn't plan to leave us as we are. That truth scares us to death. What if He calls you to sell everything you own and go into the mission field? What if He uses your life to glorify Him by sending you a tragedy? What if your friends or family abandon you because you're "taking this Christian thing too far"? We want to follow, but we're afraid.
Kyle Idleman tells us about many people who had what he calls the "DTR (define the relationship) talk" with Jesus. Nicodemus would have to risk losing his position and his friends to follow Christ. Matthew would forfeit his lucrative (albeit dishonorable) career as a tax collector and commit to being poor. A prostitute would risk physical punishment just to be in Jesus' presence and to show Him her love for Him. And the rich young ruler would go away devastated because Jesus could see into his heart that his money and possessions were what he was worshiping.
Many Americans embody the rich young ruler. We value our comfort, our money, our status. In reality, there's nothing wrong with wanting to provide sufficiently for our families. Jesus tells us that shouldn't be the focus of our lives. He says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26. We should love God so much that by comparison our other relationships could be described as hate. That requires total commitment to God's will, not ours.
So what is missing here? It's the acceptance of God's overwhelming love for us and the acknowledgement of His power and strength that is sufficient to care for us in any situation. Yes, following Christ will change our lives, and that is scary. But it's part of the point. Living in and with His love is worth the risk.
Today's Christian leaders are beginning to realize where modern churches are going wrong in their philosophies. Books abound telling us that there is a huge difference between "belief" and "following". "Life at its very best is a passionate experience, not a doctoral dissertation. The problem is not that Christianity can't be believed, but that it can't be practiced because of its lack of lived experience." The Gospel According to Starbucks, Leonard Sweet. "In teaching people what it means to be a Christian, we spend much of our time and effort bringing them to a point of belief without clearly calling them to follow. We have taken "believe" and we have written that in capital letters with bold print: BELIEVE. But everything that has to do with following has been put in small print: follow." not a fan., Kyle Idleman. I have found myself reading several other books lately that essentially address the same issue. The question that still plagues me after reading all this is, "What's missing?" We can feel the convicting power in the question "has following Jesus cost you anything?", but Christians are still struggling with getting from conviction to action.
The truth is that Jesus wants all of us, and He doesn't plan to leave us as we are. That truth scares us to death. What if He calls you to sell everything you own and go into the mission field? What if He uses your life to glorify Him by sending you a tragedy? What if your friends or family abandon you because you're "taking this Christian thing too far"? We want to follow, but we're afraid.
Kyle Idleman tells us about many people who had what he calls the "DTR (define the relationship) talk" with Jesus. Nicodemus would have to risk losing his position and his friends to follow Christ. Matthew would forfeit his lucrative (albeit dishonorable) career as a tax collector and commit to being poor. A prostitute would risk physical punishment just to be in Jesus' presence and to show Him her love for Him. And the rich young ruler would go away devastated because Jesus could see into his heart that his money and possessions were what he was worshiping.
Many Americans embody the rich young ruler. We value our comfort, our money, our status. In reality, there's nothing wrong with wanting to provide sufficiently for our families. Jesus tells us that shouldn't be the focus of our lives. He says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26. We should love God so much that by comparison our other relationships could be described as hate. That requires total commitment to God's will, not ours.
So what is missing here? It's the acceptance of God's overwhelming love for us and the acknowledgement of His power and strength that is sufficient to care for us in any situation. Yes, following Christ will change our lives, and that is scary. But it's part of the point. Living in and with His love is worth the risk.
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