First Baptist Church • 200 3rd St. SW • Minot, ND 58701
(701) 852-4533 • firstbap@srt.com
Published weekly • Issue No. 22 • June 8, 2008
Invest in Your Discipleship
To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"The Lord is my Shepherd" is written on many more tombstones than lives. - Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy
When we hear Christ’s words, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24) we envision demands of discipleship. The greatest demand is the surrender of our daily will to the will of God.
Surrendering daily involves a commitment to the “agony of choice.” The agony of choice is the acute agony experienced when our own will comes into conflict with God’s and we are faced with a decision: benefit the cause of Christ or benefit oneself. Surrendering to the will of God promises tremendous benefits including: power, praise and fruitfulness (See 1 Samuel 2:30, John 15:5).
The early disciples encountered the agony of choice very early in their time with Jesus. On one occasion, after Jesus spoke a particularly challenging message, “many of His disciples when they heard this, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can understand it?’ Moments later we find, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (See John 6:53-66) At this point, Jesus turned to the twelve and said, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:67-68).
Determine to live each day of your life living for Christ. This will allow you to live for a cause greater than yourself. As Bonhoeffer reminds us, "He leads the way, keep close to Him."
Peace, Pastor Kent