I never played sports on a team, although my two sons played them all through high school. I was never against playing sports, but I am lefthanded, and hardly anybody ever had ball gloves for lefties, nor did most players, at least in my school years, know how to respond to a lefty. I now have a great glove for my right hand, but am almost too old to use it, ha. ha. I mention sports basically because I do know that it takes dedication and determination for one to become good at sports, and I do applaud those who have excelled in various sports. My point is that believers in Christ need to have some of the same kind of determination that those who play sports have, if they intend to win any games. Coaches are necessary for all of the sports with which I am acquainted. Rules are also used to play the games, and penalties are given to those who break the rules, or at least points are not counted if goals are made while one is breaking the rules. When it comes to discipleship, it seems that most of us suppose that we need no rules, no coaches, no referees and no discipline on our part to “play the game”. Actually, many people have used the idea of “playing the game” to describe some “Christian” assemblies or activities!
People often say to me, “Oh, the Bible is so hard to understand that none of us can know much about what it says.” That is what could be called a “cop out”, for much of the Bible is very plain in its wording, as well as its meaning. When the Bible says, “Thou shalt not steal”, or “Thou shalt not kill”, is it hard to understand this? When the Bible says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”, is that hard to understand? Or if the Bible says that we should love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, is that hard to understand? I doubt that any of us have any trouble understanding what these commands teach, so why do we often say that the Bible is too hard to understand? I read about one man who said, “It is not the part of the Bible that I do not understand that troubles me; it is the part that I do understand.” I think there is merit in this statemen! When it comes to discipleship, is it hard to understand that a disciple is basically a student of the Word of God, and also one who is willing to follow what the Word of God commands? I have been saved for over 69 years; I have been a preacher of the Word of God for over 62 years, yet I get more joy out of doing what God commands me to do than anything else in my life. No, I did not say that following God is necessarily easy, nor did I say that I have always perfectly followed Him, for I have not. I am saying, however, that in the years of my ministry I have had contact with people with almost every conceivable sin in their lives, and I have not found one of them who had the joy of the Lord in his heart as long as he was following his sinful ways. I have seen people, however, who have had many vices and sins in their lives, but who also gave Christ charge in their lives and asked Him to take away the sinful practices, and when He did, I have seen some of the most joyful people on earth!
Being a disciple of Christ is not always easy, but it is always rewarding. The problem, however, is that the reward does not always come as quickly as some of us might desire. More than that, the main rewards will come when we are at home with Christ for eternity. Perhaps the problem with many who profess Christ is that they are looking for a better life now, or a more prosperous life now, when God has not necessarily promised either of these, for it will be when we are with the Lord that the biggest blessings will come! It seems that too many people are looking for all of God’s resources to be poured out on them in this life, when this is not what the Bible shows or promises, for eternity will be the place of the ultimate blessings of God.
By J. Briggs King, Rainsville, AL (678) 451-0921