The Cost of Discipleship in Christianity
Being a Christian disciple comes with a variety of roles such as embracing the teachings of Jesus, helping in the spreading of the gospel and believing in God and all His doctrines. During His teachings to His followers, Christ commissioned the people to spread the teachings of Christian discipleship and baptize them as well. Any teaching on Christian discipleship cannot end without the mention of Jesus Christ just like Wood Science and Todd Shupe.
The cost of becoming a disciple of Christ is incomparably painful. He added that to receive salvation is free but after that, it costs the saved person’s life. Discipleship means giving up all we have for the sake of Jesus. Christ also demonstrated the cost of becoming a Christian disciple in three steps as discussed below.
Jesus taught that becoming a disciple means hating everything including one’s family and self. Despite teaching His disciples to love others, Christ also stated that we should give up on all to have Him fully. Always let God come first in all activities we undertake. In this situation is where we now give up on Family and ourselves to have Jesus Christ fully in our lives. God asks human beings to obey their parents to live long on earth but this does not mean we cannot disobey them when they make us break the Lord’s commandments. Asking the wives to be submissive to their husbands is only applicable where righteousness is concerned but they are supposed to turn to Christ every time the men use submission as a tool to fall into sin.
Christ also listed giving up on earthly desires as the price an individual pays for following Him. Jesus used the term cross to refer to the daily control of the earthly desires and the willingness to bear the reproach of His name. Jesus went through much suffering to bring salvation to mankind. The cost of discipleship teaches that we all have to pass through the same treatments so as to be called Children of God and disciples of Jesus Christ. No Christian should ever do anything that provokes persecution of Christ and suffering for the sake of Christianity should be on daily basis.
Being a disciple of Jesus calls for zero interest in material wealth. By losing material ownership for Christ means an individual can never equally serve two masters at ago without neglecting one. The followers of Christ should always strive to ensure they own sufficient wealth in their home which is not on earth. A Christian cannot just add Christ to their material possessions as a way of rounding up their spirituality.
Christ told His followers the stories of two young men to explain the impact of wealth on Christianity. The rich young man would not sacrifice his riches for the sake of God. The other wouldn’t leave his dead father and follow Christ.