The Cost of Discipleship

We are going through Mark in our small group and I was reading chapter 6 this afternoon and was so challenged by verses 7-12,

 "He called his twelve followers together and got ready to send them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. This is what Jesus commanded them: 'Take nothing for your trip except a walking stick. Take no bread, no bag, and no money in your pockets. Wear sandals, but take only the clothes you are wearing.  When you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. If the people in a certain place refuse to welcome you or listen to you, leave that place. Shake its dust off your feet as a warning to them.' So the followers went out and preached that people should change their hearts and lives."

I have been thinking a lot lately about the "cost of discipleship." What does it mean to be a follower of Christ? What does is mean to live fully committed and dedicated to His work? What does it mean to live on this earth, yet have a heavenly mindset?

These verses show the sacrifice of following Christ. Jesus told his disciples to go out and share the gospel with people, BUT don't bring anything with you, AND go stay at STRANGERS houses, and trust that He would provide every physical and spiritual need- what in the world!? Talk about letting go of our comfort for the sake of sharing the gospel. 

I was so challenged and have been asking myself the question if I am willing to give up everything to follow my Lord? 

What is more important to me- comfort, security, and fulfillment from things on this earth or the Gospel?!

"What Jesus is calling us to is ultimate allegiance. He is essentially saying, “To be my disciple, you must give me preeminence over and (sometimes) against everything else.” In other words, our lives should be so submitted to Christ that when we put our allegiance to him side-by-side with other allegiances, the difference is so great that it could be described in the black-and-white terminology of love and hate."

(-The Gospel Coalition)

My prayer is the Christ would ALWAYS be by ultimate allegiance. I pray that I would love the things HE loves and hate the things HE hates. I pray that I would trust God even MORE. I pray that my temporary love for this world would disappear and that it would never keep me from my eternal purpose-the ultimate reason why I was created.

And here is our HOPE- 

As disciples of Christ we are challenged to give him our ultimate allegiance, no matter our cultural background or social location. This being the case, our comfort and our energies must be derived from the fact that Christ not only transcends human culture, but he also entered into it. And, having entered into culture, he not only challenges the reigning paradigms, but also promises to redeem all that is broken about them.

"In Jesus’ call to radical discipleship, he does not ask us to anything that he has not already done for us. And it is this reality—that our Discipler has given up everything for us—that not only encourages us, but actually empowers us to respond to his call to costly discipleship. Only this kind of God could be worthy of our ultimate allegiance."