John 6 has become one of my “slow” chapters. I can’t just read through it on a reading plan anymore. I grasp at the air sometimes trying to understand.
Tag Archives: Discipleship
The way to greatness
43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. (Mark 10:43-44) We look for ways to greatness. Christ shows us the way of service.
The way of the cross
Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Mark 8:34) My personal prayer as I walk through this very difficult passage in the Gospel of Mark:
The tone deaf church
My reading today took me through Matthew 20:17-21. It is about disciples who just don’t “get” what discipleship is about. Jesus has just finished talking about his suffering, death, and resurrection and here comes a mom asking about her boys. (As moms tend to do.)
Is Jesus worth following?
One of the great phrases I use from Dallas Willard is this: “There is a cost to following Jesus. There is a cost to not following Jesus.” We need to weigh both costs.
The downside of evangelical American Christianity
My reading has me in Micah for a few days and as I read it I get this picture of Israel that the prophets portray over and over. Israel is “weary” of serving God. They have some sense of obligation, but they are in love with the gods of the age and want to pursueContinue reading “The downside of evangelical American Christianity”
His words are still life
My love affair with the written word of God has been lifelong. Over the years I have grown in my love and understanding. The written word has led me to the Living Word (Christ), but that written word is still precious to me.
The space for discipleship
I am not good on many names in big market Christianity. I know I have loved Hillsongs worship for decades. A story about one of their worship leaders/songwriters being shaken in his faith was something that got my attention.
We can’t settle for simple sets of rules
One takeaway from the excellent conversation I listened to on the podcasts I referred to in my last post was this insight: when we are tired of making too many decisions in our lives we fall to fundamentalism. There is a hard right and a hard left fundamentalism, but those are the areas we goContinue reading “We can’t settle for simple sets of rules”
Renouncing all to follow Christ
33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. (Luke 14:33) Christ can’t have me following him with all the junk I want to carry. He knows I won’t make it, so he calls me to jettison my junk to obtain his treasure.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 