Discipleship

Discipleship, what role does it plays in the "Christian" life. if following Jesus is Synonymous with Discipleship or if being a "Christian" a simply claiming the promise of salvation and living in grace is what it is to be His follower. Now I love the Grace of God and the freedom it brings, but I like Dietrich Bonhoeffer tend to wince at cheap grace and grace without discipleship, now I am not of the opinion that salvation is dependent on your discipleship and perfection., but I have a hard time when Christians don't take the call of Christ seriously. I don't believe that when Jesus called us to Take up our Crosses His intention had anything to do with the fluffy Christianity that we see today. This call of Discipleship, I believe, has very little to do with our political affiliation, support of Government or how often I use the "F" word. Ultimately it has to do with our lifestyle, life choices, and lifes service. I believe that these 3 things, will show and exemplify Jesus to this world, now , so what does it look like?

1. Lifestyle-- How do we live our lives, do we live them with a sense of following Jesus and taking what He said to heart, is our lifestyle punctuated by anxiety, worry, anger, hatred, and selfishness. Or do we show Christ in our lifestyle, by prayer, peace, love and self denial? Now we will all fail in these areas but are we desiring to be more like Jesus by living in the latter or are we like this world living in the former thing

2. Life Choices--- How do we make our decisions in life , how do we choose where to live , or work or how to spend our money(after our tithe). When I say this I mean do we make these choices by the same standards as this world, or do we look at scripture and pray for God to show us what to do and even, where to do it. Do we choose to have the nicest and most extravagant things or do we choose to live in simplicity. Do we value and choose to live the the American dream or do we live by the Sermon on the Mount?

3. Lifes Service---- How do we spend our time? and where do we choose to be. Do we seek to please and gratify ourselves, or do we live for caring for and serving others. Do we give our lives to sports and TV and politics, did we volunteer more time for the last presidential campaign than we have to care for the least our society. How we spend our time and service, doesn't even include just going to church and participating, our lifes service will show our values to this world and our love for others will present Jesus to this world.

Jesus said they will know us by our love , not by our church attendance or political affiliation. Discipleship is a call that Jesus placed on everyone that chose to follow Him. A Disciple is a learner one who has dedicated them self to the learning and following of following Jesus. The same way Michael Jordan dedicated himself to the learning of basketball, is the same way we should dedicate ourselves to Jesus and following Him. Michael Jordan practiced long and hard to play basketball so well, what would our discipleship look like if we put half as much effort into our following of Jesus? The call to discipleship is a whole life call, it should affect every aspect of our lives, our Lifestyle, Life Choices , and Life Service.