It was one of those times I was sure I finally had it right.
A real man answers to no one—except to God, of course. And I considered myself a God-fearing man, since I instinctively understood that would eventually happen.
But it was way down the road.
Besides, I already had my ticket to paradise. Or so I’d reckoned. I’d been forgiven for all my transgressions because of the blood Christ shed on the cross. I was eager enough to repent from my likestyle and accept God’s free gift of redemption. But I couldn’t seem to envision a lifestyle which reflected His expectations for me since the maturity I needed as a disciple of Jesus Christ to fulfill those expectations just wasn’t there.
I assumed that whatever else I needed would just fall into my lap.
Yet I was in a hurry to make my life to count for something, so there was no end to the amount of time and resources I could find in service to any given local congregation at any give time. It didn’t matter if that somehow compromised my responsibilities to my family. In my mind, it was doing the Lord’s work and that’s all that mattered.
Ironically though, I eventually started to understood a core tenant of effective discipleship was that anything worthwhile always lended itself to some form of suffering. But suffering rarely creates a sense of satisfaction for acting in an accountable manner. It’s more likely a miserable experience or situation evolving as a result of that action. Yet when sustained for the sake of obedience and worthiness, joy often follows. [see: Ac. 5:40-41]
So, how did I eventually learn to stay in the saddle?
Perhaps by realizing that, first and foremost, a crucial ingredient of the learning process is to be able to discern God’s word correctly when it comes to accountability. Jesus Christ’s parables in the Gospel accounts clearly assign the responsibility for His servants to engage themselves in the practice of being informed. [e.g. Lk. 12:42-48]
And to be informed is to realize that those who claim to belong to Christ are walking on thin ice if they refuse to make themselves available for encouragement and insight from other faithful brothers regarding their conduct.
Abundance in the Christian life will never materialize without the appetite to develop it.
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Posted: November 9, 2026 by cjournalme
‘Sciple up and Ride!
It was one of those times I was sure I finally had it right.
A real man answers to no one—except to God, of course. And I considered myself a God-fearing man, since I instinctively understood that would eventually happen.
But it was way down the road.
Besides, I already had my ticket to paradise. Or so I’d reckoned. I’d been forgiven for all my transgressions because of the blood Christ shed on the cross. I was eager enough to repent from my likestyle and accept God’s free gift of redemption. But I couldn’t seem to envision a lifestyle which reflected His expectations for me since the maturity I needed as a disciple of Jesus Christ to fulfill those expectations just wasn’t there.
I assumed that whatever else I needed would just fall into my lap.
Yet I was in a hurry to make my life to count for something, so there was no end to the amount of time and resources I could find in service to any given local congregation at any give time. It didn’t matter if that somehow compromised my responsibilities to my family. In my mind, it was doing the Lord’s work and that’s all that mattered.
Ironically though, I eventually started to understood a core tenant of effective discipleship was that anything worthwhile always lended itself to some form of suffering. But suffering rarely creates a sense of satisfaction for acting in an accountable manner. It’s more likely a miserable experience or situation evolving as a result of that action. Yet when sustained for the sake of obedience and worthiness, joy often follows. [see: Ac. 5:40-41]
So, how did I eventually learn to stay in the saddle?
Perhaps by realizing that, first and foremost, a crucial ingredient of the learning process is to be able to discern God’s word correctly when it comes to accountability. Jesus Christ’s parables in the Gospel accounts clearly assign the responsibility for His servants to engage themselves in the practice of being informed. [e.g. Lk. 12:42-48]
And to be informed is to realize that those who claim to belong to Christ are walking on thin ice if they refuse to make themselves available for encouragement and insight from other faithful brothers regarding their conduct.
Abundance in the Christian life will never materialize without the appetite to develop it.
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