Woe to me if I do not preach the
gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16
Have you
been called to preach the gospel as a disciple of Jesus Christ? If you have,
beware of turning a deaf ear. The call to discipleship is a special kind of
call. Everyone who is saved is called to testify to their salvation, but there
is nothing easier than being saved. Salvation is God’s sovereign work; all we
have to do is turn to him. “Turn to me and be saved” (Isaiah 45:22). Our Lord
never says that the conditions of discipleship are the same as the conditions
of salvation. We are condemned to salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ,
but discipleship has an option with it: “Whoever wants to be my
disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me”
(Luke 9:23).
To become
a disciple is to be made broken bread and poured-out wine in Jesus’s hands; it
is to experience the pain of being constrained. In 1 Corinthians 9:16, Paul
describes the distress that would seize him if he tried to break free. Having
accepted the conditions of discipleship, he is now “set apart for the gospel,”
entirely kept and bound for God (Romans 1:1).
To lead a
set-apart life is to suffer agonies worthy of the name disciple. Every
personal ambition is nipped in the bud; every personal desire is erased; every
perspective apart from God’s is blotted out. Discipleship is not for everyone.
But if you have felt God grip you for it, beware: woe to the soul who puts a
foot in any other direction once the call has come.
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