In his book The Cost of Discipleship, German pastor and anti-Nazi dissident, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, tackles the topic of what it means to be a disciple of Christ in this world.
In it, he writes:
We confess that, although our Church is orthodox as far as her doctrine of grace is concerned, we are no longer sure that we are members of a Church which follows our Lord…It is becoming clearer every day that the most urgent problem besetting our Church is this: How can we live the Christian life in the modern world?
It may sound amazing that Bonhoeffer wrote this in the mid to late 1930s. But like us today, he wrestled with the notion of “cheap grace.”
In our pursuit to proclaim a gospel message that doesn’t diminish God’s sovereign grace, the modern Church often neglects Jesus’s call to discipleship and faithful obedience.
If we practice a religion that doesn’t place the living Christ as the Mediator of all of our thinking, actions, prayers, and relationships, we ultimately live “a Christianity without discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ."
We are called to pick up our cross and follow Jesus -- daily.
In God’s great plan of redemption, He calls disciples…and His disciples follow Him.
As you consider the call of Christ in your life, remember everyone called by Him must immediately follow in obedience.
Think about how in this world God has positioned you to answer His call to pick up your cross and carry it in faithful (faith-filled) obedience.
The grace of God was costly. How will you live as a disciple under the costly grace of Jesus Christ?
Bonhoeffer, by the way, didn’t just pen a neat book of thoughts on discipleship. He lived it.
In 1946 Bonhoeffer was martyred at age 39 just weeks before the Nazi regime collapsed.
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27)
Get Dominion,
Clint DeBoer
