Sometimes I think I am too pragmatic and focused on work and discipline. There is a danger of depressing the people that you work closely with when you place great focus on agile disciples that know the Truth and how to handle it.I have found in business, family and life that Jesus was wise to not mislead anyone by painting rose colored pictures. Kyle Idleman describes that leadership style of Jesus in "not a fan" very well.
Most of us focus on the "Come to Jesus" experience where we realize that we need a savior. That is very important, but when Jesus choose and made disciples he spent a lot of time on the "Come after Jesus" experience.
When His fans chose to crucify him on a cross, His followers chose to use the cross as a symbol for all that He taught them about being a follower.
- a symbol of humiliation
- a symbol of suffering
- a symbol of death
After deciding to follow Jesus, the stuff that is left behind does not matter.
In the recruiting and interviewing stages, Jesus directly and explicitly informed candidates that they can not be His disciple if they were worried about the stuff you leave behind. To follow Jesus, we need our full attention on Jesus.
It is true that future glory can not be compared to present sufferings and it is also true that after shedding all the stuff, Christ bears the load for our yoke. However, if your motivation is not a commitment to follow Christ, those things may seem elusive and distant like a carrot on a stick. In fact, future glory and easy loads are just another example of stuff that can get in the way of our commitment to Him.
