Jesus doesn\u2019t say, \u201cMake converts to your way of thinking.\u201d He says, \u201cLook after my sheep. Make sure they are nourished with knowledge of me.\u201d We think that the work we do in Christian ministry counts as service; Jesus Christ says that service is what we adalah<\/i> to him, not only what we do for him. Christianity is not devotion to a work or a cause or a doctrine; it is devotion to a person.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters\u2014yes, even their own life\u2014such a person cannot be my disciple\u201d<\/i> (Luke 14:26). Jesus doesn\u2019t argue or compel. He simply says that if we wish to be his disciples, we must be devoted to him. When we are touched by the Spirit of God, we see suddenly who Jesus is, and this becomes the source of our devotion.<\/p>\n
Today, we\u2019ve substituted ideological belief for personal belief. This is why so many are devoted to causes and so few to him. People don\u2019t want to be devoted to Jesus; they want to be devoted to the cause he started. Jesus Christ the person<\/i> is deeply offensive to the educated mind of today, to those who don\u2019t want to see him as anything other than a champion of their cause.<\/p>\n
Our Lord\u2019s obedience was to the will of the Father, not to the needs of humanity. The saving of humanity was the natural outcome of that obedience. If we are devoted only to humanity, our love will falter, and we will soon be exhausted. But if we love Jesus, personally and passionately, we will be able to serve humanity, even if people treat us like doormats.<\/p>\n
The secret of the disciple\u2019s life is devotion to Jesus Christ; its hallmark is unobtrusiveness. It is like a kernel of wheat that falls to the ground and dies, then springs up, transforming the entire landscape (John 12:24).<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jesus doesn\u2019t say, \u201cMake converts to your way of thinking.\u201d He says, \u201cLook after my sheep. Make sure they are nourished with knowledge of me.\u201d We think that the work we do …<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":2078,"template":"","collection":[42],"class_list":{"0":"post-2602","1":"modern-classic","2":"type-modern-classic","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"collection-discipleship"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic\/2602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/modern-classic"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic\/2602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=2602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}