classic Saturday

Dallas Willard is a contemporary Christian philosopher and somewhat of a "father of spiritual growth". From my Devotional Classics book, here are a few words from an excerpt on discipleship from his book Spirit of the Disciplines.

"The word 'disciple' appears 269 times in the NT, while the word 'Christian' is found only 3 times and was first introduced to refer precisely to the disciples...."

The disciple of Jesus is not someone of super-Christian status, "not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of the Christian- especially padded, textured, streamlined, and empowered for the fast lane on the straight ad narrow way." Instead, "he stands on the pages of the NT as the first level of basic transportation in the Kingdom of God."

Willard goes on to say that in past decades, churches have made discipleship an option or extra.
"One is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress toward or in discipleship."

"When Jesus walked among humankind there was a certain simplicity to being a disciple. Primarily it meant to go with him, in an attitude of study, obedience, and imitation."

Willard ends with referring to Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship and adding thoughts about the cost of nondiscipleship. "It was right to point out that one cannot be a disciple without forfeiting things normally sought out in human life, and that one who pays little in the world's coinage to bear his name has reason to wonder where he or she stands with God. But the cost of nondiscipleship is far greater-even when this life alone is considered- than the price paid to walk with Jesus. Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the 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. The cross-shaped yoke of Christ is after all an instrument of liberation and power to those who live in it with him and learn the meekness of lowliness of heart that brings rest to the soul...The correct perspective is to see following Christ not only as the necessity it is, but as the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities and as life on the highest plane."

I relate with the cost of nondiscipleship. The areas of my life in which I struggle to place under the reign of Christ...these are the places of greatest unrest for me. I may worry about the "cost of giving up something" but as a follower of Christ with an ever-growing mindset of "full devotion", I end up paying a much higher price for keeping these things under my own control and will, for I give up peace, freedom, and obedience to sometimes hold on to the comforts and "security" of this world.

A suggested exercise at the end of this excerpt is to go through the Gospel of Matthew and list all the things that Jesus commanded us to do. The list will make up a mosaic of what the basic Christian life should look like according to Jesus.