Are Ye Able?
Reading: Luke 9:21-27
“Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.’”
Collage Credit: Jerry Wheat
The cost of discipleship is made very clear in this favorite hymn. We often sang it at the final consecration service at camp, usually an impressive time for rededication. Many young people on those occasions began a journey toward Christian service.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer added another book to the list of Christian classics when he wrote The Cost of Discipleship in 1936. In it he lays out for us what it means to follow Christ. We do not know where that path will take us, but we follow the One who has absolute authority over us.
We need to understand what it means to follow Jesus. 1) We must put Jesus first, not ourselves. 2) We must be willing to face whatever persecution or humiliation comes our way because we are following Jesus. 3) We must use our lives for Jesus, not attempt to save them for ourselves. 4) If we expect Jesus to recognize us in the next life, we need to be close to him today.
The hymn writer reminds us that we do not need to do any of these things in our own power. When we respond to God's love in Jesus Christ, we are recreated by that love.
For Reflection: Am I Able?
A Prayer Seed:
"Are ye able," said the Master, "To be crucified with me?"
"Yea," the sturdy dreamers answered,
"To the death we follow Thee."
"Lord, we are able, Our spirits are Thine,
Remold them, make us like Thee, divine,
Thy guiding radiance above us shall be
A beacon to God, to love and loyalty."
Earl Marlott, 1926
