I'm reading through The Good and Beautiful Life by James Bryan Smith and was blown away by this statement about the importance of discipleship. These three paragraphs alone are probably worth the purchase price of the book.
"The devil wants people to fear the high cost of discipleship. But in reality, the cost of nondiscipleship is much higher. Dallas Willard explains:
'Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life-penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in light of God's overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10).'
The question is not, What will I have to give up to follow Jesus? But rather, What will I never get to experience if I choose not to follow Jesus?" ~ James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life, page 31
I long to be like the guys in the Gospels, who heard Jesus call out, "Come, follow me," and they immediately left everything to follow... I don't want to miss out on the amazing adventure God has for me because I'm fearful, anxious or just plain lazy... I long to follow Him!
1 comment:
Awesome Stuff, man. May it never be said of us that we took the easy road, that road which requires nothing of us. If we are to discover ourselves it will only be when the outer portion of our lives is stripped away; when by sweat, determination, drive, and desire, we have overcome all obstacles, and stand triumphantly with Christ atop the mountain.
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