The Meaning of Discipleship for Christians Today

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The Meaning of Discipleship for Christians Today Christians today suffer a very different challenge than the first disciples. Although a "calling" may not be as evident as it was for the first disciples, there are those who realise they have a "vocation". People who have a vocation are usually priests, nuns and those in religious orders. In the Readers Digest Guide to the Bible it says, "When God issues a call it conveys a divine command to human beings". For many different people discipleship means many different things. For some it may be working at an unstable marriage or in their job, an example of this is a teacher who passes their knowledge onto their students. Even the person who plays the smallest role in society can be a disciple. For priests, discipleship is a sacrifice and shares some similarities to the first disciples. Like them, priests have to give up personal possessions and leave families. They also are faced with rejection and must fight injustice for their beliefs. For priests, discipleship also involves taking a vow of celibacy. Christians view the church as a family and that the other Christians are their brothers and sisters. It shares many similarities to our own families. In order for it to work, there has to be love and compassion but in the same way as at home, there can be arguments and disagreements that can sometimes lead to a division in the family. The world today has become much easier than it was at the time of the first disciples, however I believe this adds to the cost of discipleship. Being a disciple is regarded as quite "weird" and goes against many human values. Christians today are put to the test more and more by having their faith questioned a lot. Science and technology are telling us to do different things that in the past only God had the power to do, for example, determine the sex of our babies or go against nature through artificial insemination. Sometimes nowadays it appears we have no need for God in our lives at all.

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