The Difference Between “Disciple” and “Dissipell”
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’”
—Luke 14:28-30
Observation & Application:
When I was 16 I worked for my uncle at his Hip-Hop clothing store called “Concrete Jungle”. I remember when a store opened up just around the block from our store that sold imitation Hip-Hop clothes, knock-offs of the popular brand names. People would come into our store and see the price of an authentic “Rocawear” leather jacket and complain. Often the next day the return to our store sporting their latest purchase, a knock-off from the store around the corner. They would walk in wearing their pleather “Roocawire” jacket. It was all I could do to not laugh at how ridiculous they looked trying to pass off this horrible imitation as the real deal, all while bragging about how little they had to pay for it. Without fail after a couple of weeks the jacket would fall apart or they would stop wearing it because their friends ridiculed them for their “fake gear”. The price for authenticity and quality is never cheap. Even if you get a good deal you will still have to spend some money. The true cost of trying to save a few dollars on a “Rocawear” leather jacket by purchasing an imitation, in the end, always cost the customer more then they wanted to pay and they were always left wanting.
The cost of discipleship is high. Not to many people are willing to pray the actual price. They want to buy into the building project called “becoming a disciple of Jesus” and then realize they are not willing to invest the capital necessary to finish the project. But leave it up to good old ingenuity to figure out a way to create a façade that looks like a finished building, but is really a hollow shell. In many ways modern Christianity is a façade, a bootleg of real discipleship, thus cheaper to buy. The cost: attend church on Sunday, tithe regularly, and don’t let anyone know that you struggle with sin. As long as you can pay those bills each week the façade is a tangible reality called Christianity. The current consumer climate in the West has also infiltrated this façade and now you can shop for the façade that suits you best. You can buy into the façade that makes you feel the most comfortable. No matter how hard we try to pass these façades off as the real thing, they remain cheap imitations, knock-offs purchased by a bargain shopper.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for being the real deal. Lord, help me to discern the fake from the real and always choose the real you no matter what the cost. In Jesus name I pray Amen…
Comments