Dangers of Christian Discipleship

"God is not a divine slot maching that gives our the coins of grace when the right numbers appear"
- Stephen Rossetti


1.  One danger of Christian discipleship is confusing magic with God's power.  Magic is about our controlling God or making spiritual things happen.  God's power is about His grace and His control, not ours.  We are totally in God's debt and not the other way around.  When we think of magic, think about magicians for example who controls the illusion.  But Christian discipleship abandons all human control and surrenders oneself to the "Holy Other."

2.Another danger of Christian discipleship is as one makes progress, one begins to think more highly of oneself and more judgmental of others.  Spiritual egotism and pride can creep in where we condemn other Christians for not having the same kind of commitment or devotion that we have.  Our delight must be on fulfilling God's will and not getting our way.  Christian discipleship is never about God owing us or needing us.  It is all about our need and total desire for God.

3.  A third danger of Christian discipleship is to have misconceptions about the Christian life or God.  When we believe God has to answer our prayers or bad things do not happen to faithful disciples will always disappoint and may even cause some people to abandon their spiritual life with God all together.  Radical discipleship takes radical faith.  We must learn to trust God no matter what the circumstances or no matter how dark the night.  Even when our life is touched by evil, we know that not even this, can separate us from God's love and that God may yet bring some good out of a very terrible or bad situation.

4.  Lastly, Christian discipleship is not something we arrive at but are always on a journey.  We are more learners than teachers.  We are on a journey on downward mobility to the poor the least and not on an upward journey of worldly success and affluence.  Ultimately, the way of Christian discipleship is not about the intellect for knowledge "puffs up" but it is about humility, the more we know we don't know, and the way of the heart that has reasons that our mind will never fully understand.