“Discipleship is discipline. It’s tough to learn discipline on your own. You’re much more likely to learn it with the support of a group and a clear, measurable plan. Eventually you can remove some of the program scaffolding as you internalize the disciplines. Yet the brutal truth is that around 90% of people who leave behavioral change programs revert to their former behavior. So we shouldn’t be surprised a similar percentage of people who desire to grow spiritually need the structure and support of that nasty thing called a program. The truth does sting, doesn’t it?”
While Jesus did show us by example what the program of discipleship was, He did not explicitly write it out for us. We can take cues from the other books in the New Testament, but ultimately discipleship is a discipline. This discipline may be forged in a 12 month program outlined in a book, but the idea is that over time it becomes a habit and a desired part of normal life as a believer.
I was reading The Complete Book of Discipleship by Bill Hull when I wrote this post.
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