Discipleship Ain’t That Hard

He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus.  - John 1:39-42a

Discipleship can be an intimidating thing. I often think we have a love-hate relationship with discipleship. We know as believers we should be about discipleship but we shy away from it at times because we don’t understand what that really means. We often think of discipleship as a program or a plan that has a beginning date and an end date. Or we think of it as something so complicated that it is hard to pursue. However, when we look at the Bible we can see what discipleship really is.

In John chapter 1 we see that Jesus calls His first disciples. They literally spend a day with Jesus and then go and tell others about what they know and invite them to return with them as they follow Jesus around. Andrew was sought out by Jesus and then he goes and tells Peter that he has found the Messiah and invites Peter to come with him as he follows Jesus. I love that the Word says that he “brought him to Jesus”.  

Discipleship is not really that hard. Here are a few things to consider as we look at this amazing example.
You don’t have to have it all figured out. Andrew had just met Jesus but had committed to going back and following Him. We often don’t engage in discipleship because we think we have to have all of the answers and we don’t.
In its basic sense, discipleship is inviting others to join you in following Jesus and learning from Him together. We don’t know all the answers but the joy in discipleship is sharing what you do know and seeking answers to what you don’t know with others.
You cannot expect others to go to a place you are not willing to go yourself. Here is what I mean by that. Andrew FIRST met Jesus and proclaimed that He is the Messiah and THEN he invited others to come and see what he had already experienced and experience more of Jesus as they followed Him together.

If we are disciples of Jesus, meaning we have been saved by Jesus, we are to make disciples. See Matthew 28:18-20. It’s not hard. It is just joining together to follow Jesus. Let’s invite others to join us in following and experiencing the joy of knowing Jesus.




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