The Cost of BEING a Disciple

I wish I could be a talmidim.  In the Jewish teaching a talmidim was not only a student, not only a disciple, but someone who would walk so closely with his Rabbi that he would become just like him. The talmidim would do everything and see everything just like the one he followed.  I get so excited about the young men and women who I see that are trying to listen and learn from Christ at their young age.  I feel I have already wasted so much time and that I am so far behind, because I started wanting to follow in the dust of my Rabbi after I turned 30.  These college kids and younger, they are already so far ahead of me.  I am amazed!

In Luke 14:25-35, Jesus talks about the cost of being a talmid, a disciple.  We have been misguided in our learning because we think that everyone who believes in Christ is a disciple, a student, but that is not the case.  Being a disciple is not about salvation.  It is not about remaining a student (although we all will always be students).  If you believe and turn to Christ you can be saved.  A disciple, a talmid, is different.  A disciple is one who has to pay a great price, count the cost, let go of all of their desires, and choose to follow after Christ in order to become like Him.  A disciple is one who wishes to be a teacher like his/her Lord.  A disciple of Christ is one who knows others are watching and learning from them and they have a keen sense of responsibility to make sure they are leading others in the right way.   For we all lead by example.  As we look around us we can see that we have followers too.  Someone is watching us so closely that as we walk the dust from our feet is getting on them.  They are covered in our dust.  The question we must always ask is, Are we covered in Christ's dust so much, that the dust we leave upon others resembles His dust that He has left upon us?  This is the vital question, reality, of knowing who we are and who we are really following.

My mom loves to send me CD's.  She knows that I love to listen to teachers as I drive.  The most recent CD she sent me was from a Jewish teacher.  I'm not sure that I like to listen to him in the car, because I cannot stop and check what he is saying.  He does not know the whole story.  He is not a messianic Jew (A Jew who believes in Christ).  He is a Jewish Rabbi who is still waiting for his Messiah to come.  Many of the things that he says I love, but I am always having to second guess him and see if he is talking out of truth or out of incomplete knowledge.  There are many Christians whom I feel the same way about.  You see, people seem to assume that because you have the name of Christ upon you in your salvation, that you are in a position of being a teacher.  We often watch and listen to others and assume that what they say and what they do lines up with how we should be.  But, what we do not understand is that many times who we are following, their personal life does not line up with what they say and what we should do.  We do not look at carefully what we hear.  We do not go back and reference what they have said with the truth of the whole story.  We just do as they do and seem to follow blindly in their dust.

After Jesus explains the great cost of being his disciple, He says this, “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again?  Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” How Salt looses its Flavor


Being a disciple costs So much.  Becoming as my Rabbi is the most valuable lesson I can give.  This has changed my life, changed my desires, changed my behavior and changed my heart.  I take seriously what I do.  I know the cost and I have paid the price.  I pay the price everyday, for everyday I take up my cross and follow Him.  I am not saying I a perfect.  Please do not make me have to state my obvious failures again. I am called to be a teacher.  I am called to live out my salvation so that others can be covered in Christ's dust as they walk in my foot prints.  This is a very big deal!  Are we willing to evaluate the cost of being a disciple and change our lives for Him?  "For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?  Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you.  They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!'"  Being a disciple costs much.  Have you begun to build something that you cannot finish?  Then maybe you are not a disciple.  You are probably saved, but you should never claim to be a teacher.  Is your life something that others can follow without having to cross reference?  Do you lead by example or is your life making your words hollow?  These are questions that I have to ask myself everyday.  

 Oswald Chambers, "All Efforts of Worth and Excellence are Difficult"

Not all of us are talmidim of Christ, but all of us are leading someone....