It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. …
Matthew 10:25a
Even as Jesus prepares us for persecution He keeps the goal before us clear. Our goal is to be like Him! The consequences of the witness aren’t my concern. My concern is to as accurately as possible portray His character into the world. Jesus says that is enough. All I need to worry about is following Him. It is telling that Jesus did not mention any of the pleasant consequences of being like Him. Benefits like healing the sick, being compassionate and well thought of, casting out demons, etc. These are desirable and His disciples are already aware of them. Somehow we miss the difficulty of being like Jesus. We think that somehow we will pass a maturity level that brings smooth sailing for us.
In our comfortable “culture of comfort” we are too concerned with what others will think of and what it will cost us instead of what it is worth to be like Jesus. We hate being brought before our peers much less a court. Even children cannot be disciplined in godly correction because the discomfort of it will cause them to reject us as the “cool parents”. Being like Jesus means you will sometimes be unpopular, even with close family. Being like Jesus means you will sometimes suffer and could even lose your life to remain like Him. Being like Jesus means using every ethical, moral (harmless) resource to share Him with the world. It means viewing all your resources as your wealth to steward on His behalf. It means being satisfied with being like Him because you know it is enough for a disciple to be like His teacher.
Pursuing The Goal,
Pastor Jason
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