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The form that discipleship takes is conditioned by the historic times in which one lives, as well as by the context of an individual's life, but the underlying principle remains the same: each of us is called by love to love; called out of our narrow individualism and our small private world, to allow ourselves to be "turned around" by the allurement of God, and to live for him, as Jesus did.
Thelma Hall, Too Deep for Words

To become a disciple means a decisive and irrevocable turning to both God and neighbor. What follows from there is a journey which … never ends in this life, a journey of continually discovering new dimensions of loving God and neighbor.
David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission

The first and last word for a disciple of Jesus is "Obey!" I mean to say that today the word "believe" is not as important as, "You who believe, obey him whom you believe!" Of what use is believing if you cannot obey?
Johann Christoph Blumhardt in Thy Kingdom Come: A Blumhardt Reader, Vernard Eller, ed.

All true knowledge of God is born out of obedience.
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion

It's hard to remember that Jesus did not come to make us safe, but rather to make us disciples, citizens of God's new age, a kingdom of surprise. Stanley Hauerwas, quoted at PreachingToday.com what does it profit you to give God one thing if he asks of you another? Consider what it is God wants, and then do it. You will as a result better satisfy your heart than with that toward which you yourself are inclined.
St. John of the Cross, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross

It is not our responsibility "to make people 'Christians'" and get them baptized into a particular denomination, but rather to help people decide to follow Jesus and his radical message. Maybe this is why the New Testament writers only use "Christian" three times but "disciple" on 269 occasions!
Tom Getman, World Vision International, personal correspondence

Evangelism is not selling Jesus, but showing Jesus; evangelism is not mere telling about Christ, but about being Christ.
Lee C. Camp, Mere Discipleship

It has become popular to preach a painless Christianity and automatic saintliness. It has become part of our "instant" culture. "Just pour a little water on it, stir mildly, pick up a gospel tract, and you are on your Christian way."
A. W. Tozer, Jesus, Author of Our Faith

Suffering is the true badge of discipleship. The disciple is not above his master.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today.Click for reprint information.

Past Reflections columns include:

Conversion (June 09, 2004)

The Outpoured Spirit (May 03, 2004)

He Is Risen (April 08, 2004)

Jesus' Cross (March 15, 2004)

Lenten Inventory (Feb. 25, 2004)

Following the Star (Dec. 23, 2003)

Advent (Dec. 10, 2003)

Wisdom for Ministry (Nov. 10, 2003)

Discerning God's Will (Oct. 6, 2003)

Work and Vocation (Sept. 17, 2003)

Bumper Sticker Theology (July 30, 2003)

Songs from the Soul (July 8, 2003)

Walk Humbly (May 28, 2003)

Mercy (May 8, 2004)

Cross and Resurrection (April 16, 2003)

Justice (March 18, 2003)

Sex, Love, and Marriage (Feb. 14, 2003)

Mountaintop Spirituality (January 23, 2003)

Word Made Flesh (December 20, 2002)

Desert Springs (November 25, 2002)

Matters of the Mind (October 16, 2002)

Bumper stickers (August 6, 2002)

Preaching (July 18, 2002)

Prayer (June 24, 2002)

Suffering and Grief (May 20, 2002)

Writers and Words (April 18, 2002)

Crucifixion (March 28, 2002)

God's Mission (February 13, 2002)

On Enemies (January 8, 2002)

Life After Christmas (December 26, 2001)

Love & Marriage (November 13, 2001)

The Word of God (October 22, 2001)

Leadership (October 11, 2001)

Suffering (September 13, 2001)

Change (August 14, 2001)

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July 2004, Vol. 48, No. 7