“Christian discipleship . . . means following Jesus wherever He goes. It means lashing ourselves to him like a sailor in a storm tossed boat might lash himself to the mast.”- Jared C. Wilson
In his introduction to The Imperfect Disciple: Grace for People Who Can’t Get Their Act Together, Jared Wilson asks what comes to mind when you hear the word discipleship. When Jared pastored a church in Vermont and asked that question, typically he received one of two responses:
- people played word-association (difficult, trusting, adventurous, obedient, etc.)
- someone quickly offered the “right answer”, at least in a church context: “Discipleship means following Jesus.”
However, Jared contends, the word discipleship connotes much more. Thus, the author would love to hear people answer more along these lines:
- “Believing God has a plan for me even when I’m afraid he doesn’t.”
- “Trusting that God is doing something for my good even though my life has always been terrible up to now.”
- “Following Jesus even though my feeling speak more loudly.”
- “Imagining a time when I won’t hurt as much as I do now.”
Furthermore, Jared asserts, for those who struggle their whole lives to get their act together, a discipleship built around getting your act together eventually makes you about want to give up.
As a result, Jared wrote this book for people like himself – people who deem following Jesus totally worth it because Jesus is the end-all and be-all. Yet, we often find that following Jesus takes us to some pretty difficult places.
So, the author asks, “for the sake of . . . the tired and the torn-up, the weary and the wounded — how about we demystify discipleship?”
Today’s question: How do you define Christian discipleship? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The little squall stirred up in a snow globe”
