Counting the Cost

I realize that it has been over a month since I last posted. I'm sorry! Life here has been great - over the last month we have: had VBS, held three evangelistic concerts, and had our team retreat in Palawan - as well as visting Pastor Sam's hometown in Brook's Point, and sharing with the youth there.

The past two months have flown by, and the end of our time here is quickly approaching. God has been working in each of us and teaching us so many new things. Over the past two months God has really been moving in my heart and challenging me to truly understand what it means to be a disciple of Christ. I recently read a book called "The Heavenly Man" by Chinese House Church Pastor, Brother Yun, and am currently reading "The Cost of Discipleship," by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. These together with my personal devotions and a sermon Moses recommended to me by Mark Driscoll have challenged me in what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

To be a Christian is to be a follower of Christ; to live life as He lived it and to live for what He lived for. In many cultures today it is all too easy to walk the fence. And yet Christ does not call us to mediocrity or to complacency - He calls us to a life radically devoted to Him. Luke 14:27 says "And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." In his sermon, Mark Driscoll addresses this verse, describing how to carry a cross in the days of Jesus was to literally be a dead man walking. If you were carrying a cross, you were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. When Christ calls us to carry our cross, He is not calling us to be patient under inconveniences, or be nice to people who can be hard to work with. He is calling us to come and die.

Later, in the same passage, Jesus says "In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." - Luke 14:33. Christ calls us to give up everything, to take up our cross, and to follow Him. Not everyone who becomes a Christian will die because of their faith. But if we claim to be followers of Christ, we need to be willing to follow Him anywhere, even to death. This is where Christ leads us - to pick up our cross and follow Him, He bids us come and die.

And so the question that must be asked is, if we are not willing to follow Christ, can we truly call ourselves Christ followers?




(I highly reccomened this sermon, Counting the Cost, by Mark Driscoll.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-axDXZmlRU