Take the Stand

"If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."

Luke 14:26

Through the call of Jesus men become individuals.  Willy-nilly, they are compelled to decide, and that decision can only be made by themselves.  It is no choice of their own that makes them individuals:  it is Christ who makes them individuals by calling them.  Every man is called separately, and must follow alone.  But men are frightened of solitude, and they try to protect themselves from it by merging themselves in the society of their fellow-men and in their material environment.  They become suddenly aware of their responsibilities and duties, and are loath to part with them.  but all this is only a cloak to protect them from having to make a decision.  They are unwilling to stand alone before Jesus and to be compelled to decide with their eyes fixed on him alone.  Yet neither father nor mother, neither wife nor child, neither nationality nor tradition, can protect a man at the moment of his call.  It is Christ's will that he should be thus isolated and that he should fix his eyes solely upon him."

- Beginning of Chapter 5 titled "Discipleship and the Individual," page 94 of Dietrich Bonhoffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship"

How hard are the sayings of Christ!  How devastating to hear from the mouth of Christ, "You cannot be my disciple."  It is true that He will accept whosoever will respond to His call, but if we refuse to abandon our life for His sake we have not actually responded to His call.  We live in a day when some think we are disciples because we want to be.  But if I will not become Christ's disciple, I cannot become His disciple.  Christ is not to be blamed for His exacting standards.  He supplies the righteousness and we offer a willingness to trust and yield only He can enable.

Christ and the world are opposed to one another.  The world accepts you on account of your race, wealth, education, career, sexuality, family, or political and religious views.  You can be accepted by the world if you will be like the world:  think the same way, do the same things, have the same passions and hobbies.  To be accepted by Christ we must leave all these things behind, not only acknowledging our sins but counting ourselves without any merit or reason for acceptance.  Then we can be partakers of God's grace through faith.  When we fill out an application for a college or employment, we are forced to "sing our own praises" and explain why we are the best candidate for the position so a judgment can be made.  There is no paperwork to be filled out to be a Christian.  We simply forfeit our own lives for God's glory so that He might live through us.

Our love for Christ must far outweigh our love for anything of this world - even people so close to us as father, mother, wife, and child - that our love for them seems like hate compared to our degree of adoration for Jesus Christ.  I would never have said or even thought such a thing.  But Jesus said it!  And if we want to be His disciple then we must follow His pattern of love, sacrifice, and obedience to God.  Jesus did not hate his mother or brothers.  But He loved His heavenly Father with a love which outshone them all.  This is not a "feeling" kind of love, but the active agapao love which pursues God's will passionately.  God does force us to become individuals, but not individualistic.  We cannot be a disciple alone.  We must first have Christ and then remain in fellowship with like-minded Christians.  This does not believe we must agree on all things but we must believe and trust in the LORDship of one Person, Jesus Christ.  This belief will affect everything we do because it will no longer us be living but Christ through us.

Are you willing to stand alone for God and say with Job, "Though He slay me, I will trust in Him?"  This is a decision we make alone, not to make our dad or mom happy.  Praise the LORD we never need be alone for Christ has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you."  Bonhoeffer's conclusion is right:  let us look to Jesus alone.  Jesus must be our all-in-all or He will be reduced to an imaginary companion no greater than ourselves.