Spiritual Practices: Discipleship

And Jesus said to them,
“Follow Me and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Mark 1: 17

​Jesus’ message to these men was threefold:

1. Come with me and I will lead you in life
2. As you follow Me, I will transform your life 
3. Be Fishers of men: I’ll equip you in your transformed life to minister and reach others with the gospel message

His command/invitation is potentially life changing for us, but that all hinges on our accepting his invitation and following Him at His command. His call is to go with Him, to know Him, to be changed by Him and to walk in the sweetness of fellowship with Him. As we do this, we grow deeper in our relationship with Him and He ministers to us and through us along the way. 


But some folks don’t do this. In fact, they stop short. Here are the ways we can stop short of the close and personal “followership” of Jesus:

1. We don’t/won’t repent and follow Jesus in the first place for salvation. 
2. We stay where we are right after repenting and meeting Jesus. We’ll take His salvation and even Him, but don't want more. We don’t want to be one of “those” Christians.
3. We stop at following Him. We don’t know where He will lead which can feel dangerous, unknown, & uncomfortable.
4. We stop when He starts changing our lives because it is out of our control.
5. We stop at fishing for people.

There are many and various reasons why someone would stop short of following Jesus but two stand out in my mind:

1. We give ourselves “Cheap Grace” as Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about and aren’t willing to press into the cost of following Jesus.
2. We aren’t allowing ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit or allowing Him to draw us into the deeper life with Jesus, which thwarts our ability to walk with Him. 

Discipleship begins with our following Jesus and then investing in the lives of others. Investing in the lives of others can take many forms, but the important thing is to intentionally talk, meet with, share life, pray, study God’s word, and serve together. As this happens, Jesus will direct both of your lives in the direction He wants: towards Himself!


Let’s be close to Jesus in our “followership” of Him!
Pastor Andy


Questions for Reflection: 

• What would you say your experience of discipleship has been up to this point in your life?
• Has someone intentionally invested in you to help you walk closely with Jesus?
• What is Jesus saying to you personally in your walk with Him? Is He leading you to disciple someone? What are you going to do about it?

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