Topic: True Discipleship [Sunday August 27, 2017]
Text: Luke 14:25-35
Key Verse: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).
Those who enlist in armies globally are for most part, those with a fearless comportment. There is hardly a space for the faint at heart, the lily-livered who would cower in the battlefield. Would-be soldiers must meet the basic requirements of physical fitness, agility, mental alertness and readiness to die for a cause. In the text, the Lord Jesus was carefully expanding the frontiers of His message and Kingdom, explaining the credentials of those who would be His disciples.
Mindful of the great multitudes that followed Him, He knew that the discipleship for the gospel cause was not for a mixed crowd; it was for the called, with attributes which transcend the nominal and the casual. For discipleship, the qualifications include a renunciation of all family ties, bearing the Cross, counting the cost and forsaking all things and preferring the gospel and the kingdom of God. Christ gave His life to save the soul of sinful man.
He who will be His disciple therefore must count nothing too big to sacrifice for His sake. Real believers must show abiding gratitude to God for the salvation of their souls. Although many are called to Christ’s service, it is only those ready to pay the price that can carry the mantle of midwifing the gospel to the perishing souls. True disciples cannot serve selectively. They are to provide their best at all seasons in the service of the Lord unconditionally. Until a follower gets to a point where he can give all things for the service of the Kingdom, attaining the level of a disciple will be a mirage.
The beauty of all these is that those who scale the hurdles to become His disciples are always provided with the grace and wherewithal to serve. For them, the rewards are invaluable now and in eternity.
Thought for the day: No true discipleship until all on the altar we lay.
Bible Reading in one Year: Mark 14-16
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
