Discipleship: The Joy and Cost

God commanded his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19). What does making disciples involve? Luckily, some mentors in my life demonstrated what that could look like. Jesus modeled discipleship in the calling of his disciples and in his mandate to them to make disciples, baptizing them and “teaching them to obey” (Matthew 28:19-20). The goal of discipleship, then, is to teach believers to obey God, to imitate Christ and love like he did (Ephesians 5).

Is it possible that we most effectively make disciples by simply inviting them to be part of regular, daily aspects of life? Jesus asked his disciples to simply follow him, becoming part of his entire life. If discipleship aims to point believers toward relationship with Christ, then what better way than by allowing those people to witness the living relationship fostering obedience in the routine grind we call daily life?

Recently, God took me through a time of reflecting on how I ended up working at SAM Academy. Through participation in various things, from camp and sports to coaching and teaching, people took the time to mentor me, and I was then given the chance to mentor others. Reflecting back on seasons of growth and dreaming forward into future desires, I see God planted in me a love for discipleship.

Now I get to teach MKs in Peru. I love the discipleship I get to be a part of here as I spend a lot of time with the students I teach. The idea of discipling, having the chance to become more like Christ myself and to encourage others in becoming more like Him, energizes me and excites me! If God puts just one student in my life this year who I encourage to imitate Christ, I praise God for His work in that student’s life. It’s often through everyday life that I see God open doors to get to know students more and to grow in becoming imitators of Christ together. While swimming with students, for instance, one teenager told me about what God was teaching her and how a particular Bible passage had come alive to her. I rejoiced at how this young heart thirsted for relationship and yearned to obey! The family-oriented atmosphere in this community has enabled rich discipleship when desired.

Christ’s discipleship, an intentional time with specific followers devoted to Christ, did and does come at a cost. Jesus asked his disciples to leave things (Luke 5:11) and leave people (Luke 9:60) to follow him. Jesus even called those who “hear God’s word and put it into practice” his mother and brothers at the expense of leaving those family titles exclusively for earthly families (Luke 8:19-21). Following Christ as a disciple, he said, means this: “’If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it’” (Luke 9:23). God calls us all to relationship, which inspires obedience. May our discipleship ignite such uninhibited obedience.

With joy and at some cost, I want to be a disciple and I want to take up the cross of discipling others. I pray God might teach us as believers how to daily, moment-by-moment take up our crosses and follow him as one body of Christ.