You heard me. Discipleship is not a requirement to be saved. Want me to prove it? Go read John 3:16. Go AHEAD! I'll wait.....
Well?
You read,"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son. That WHOSOEVER (that's us!) believeth in Him, should not perish, but should have everlasting life.
Fire Insurance! That's what it is. You didn't want to go to Hell, so you ask Christ to be your Lord and Savior. The ONLY requirement for salvation is to believe that you are saved by the blood of Jesus. But, you are struggling with that "Lord" part. You want to discuss things with God, when He confronts you about your issues.
And HERE is where your dilemma occurs.
You believe that you MUST become a disciple to get into Heaven. The problem is you do not desire to become a disciple. Your flesh struggles against your spirit (Check Romans Chapter 7:17 - 8:1 for reference). And, since you refuse to feed your spirit (read your Bible!), your flesh wins out. Now, you are dealing with the shame of letting God down. That disqualifies you, in your mind, from going to ask God for anything, let alone forgiveness.
So, my first question to you is did Christ die for the sins you committed BEFORE you accepted Him or for ALL of your sins?
My second question is does anything that you EVER do catch God by surprise?
My third question is why would you need a Savior, if you were expected to be perfect?
When you get a chance, go back and read John 3:16 again. But, this time, read what it says. Do not add anything to it. Do not add the requirements of your religious upbringing. Do not add the expectations of your Mom or Dad or Pastor from the church that you grew up in (none of them were perfect, either. If they thought they were, then they are guilty of the sin of pride!). Just read what it says. As you read it, think about David. David, according to God, was a man after God's own heart. David was an adulterer and a murderer, among other things. So, even if you have killed somebody, salvation is available to you.
And Salvation has NOTHING to do with being a disciple.
A disciple is one who freely chooses to live by the principles that Jesus taught and modeled. The operative phrase in that statement is "freely chooses". Nobody is going to make you do anything. Nobody is going to force you. Nobody (well, maybe those who don't think they have earned God's forgiveness, so they appoint themselves to judge the hearts of others) is going to point out your faults and failures.
We have them, too.
Even God will not override your free will and force you to follow Him. The beauty of being you and me, is we are the only creation of God that has the ability to choose to love God or not. That ought to blow you away! God seeks relationship with you, because you choose to love Him back. Not because you are perfect. Not because you make all of the right decisions. Not because you never lose your temper or you never yell at the wife and kids. He seeks you out, because you CHOOSE to love Him.
Being a disciple is my way of telling God that I love Him. And Failure is part of my journey to Success. If I never mess up, I never learn about God's Grace and Forgiveness. If others never hurt me, I cannot give away Grace and Forgiveness. And I cannot have more Grace and Forgiveness, unless I give that which I have received from God, away.
Back to David. If he was so terrible, what made God so giddy about His relationship with David? David always tried to make the next right decision. See, you think that disciples never make mistakes. Not true. Disciples just know it does no good in trying to cover mistakes up. Disciples know that it does no good in trying to justify your actions, when you know in your heart your actions do not glorify God.
God knows your heart. He knew David's heart, too. He knew that David wrote Psalm 51 from the heart.
Want to be a disciple? Live Psalm 51.
And forget about being perfect.
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