THE NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR TRUE DISCIPLESHIP

THE NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR TRUE DISCIPLESHIP

Yes! Remarkably, God is God but we are humans. He is our creator and we are His creatures. He is unlimited but we are limited. He is perfect but we are imperfect. God is infinite but we are finite with enormous deficiencies. Yet irrespective of the unfathomable greatness of God which is amazingly incomparable with/to the nothingness of man, God still loves man greatly. He cherishes man and cares for him beyond all imaginable. Most of all, it is the desire of God that man should share in his glory in the kingdom of heaven. This, he prepared before hand by his divine invitation to us all to be his disciple here on earth so as to enable us prepare well to merit that glory gratuitously given to us all. But to be his true and authentic disciple there are conditions necessarily to be fulfilled before we can possess it:

WE MUST PREFER GOD ABOVE ALL ELSE INCLUDING OUR LOVED ONES
True discipleship demands total dedication and total commitment to God. It totally eschews in-authenticity and flagged zeal in relationships with Christ. Nothing like half-Christian, nominal Christian, Christian only on Sunday and worshiper of other things on other days of the week.
This demand for total commitment is evident in Christ's emphatic instruction that whoever wants to be his follower must deny his father, mother, brothers and sisters, even oneself and carry ones cross daily and follow him.
This condition invariably implies the nonnegotiable preference of Christ above kith and kin. Although Christ should be loved above all else, it does not call for the denial and abandonment in deserting our father, mother or brothers and sisters...but if ones relatives or loved ones or even personal inclinations hinder, obstruct, deprive one from following Christ with undivided attention, we should oppose them. Just as nothing mortal stands before the commanded soldier to the war front, so also should nothing stands between us and the call of God, not even our dear parents and siblings. God forbids not to love parents and children but not to the detriment of our relationship with God, not loving them more than God. The Jewish shema of Deut:6:4-5, that is, the creed of Judaism reiterated it very nobly that we should love the Lord with all our heart, mind and might... Our allegiance to Christ, our commitments to Christ should stand Paramount over our personal desires and inclinations. But we can still be committed to Christ in the undertakings of our professions and carriers. Married men and women who are faithful and loyal to each other, who undertake family responsibilities seriously and provide both temporal and the spiritual needs of the family, with the intention of praising God is more than committed to Christ. So also should all our other engagements in the office, market, school etc be.
WE MUST LOVE CHRIST ABOVE OUR COMFORT
 In fact, to be an authentic Christian is to sign the contract of discomfort and merciless misery. Not even to his disciples did Christ promised comfort and luxury in this world, rather he disposed their minds of imminent hatred and persecutions on his account, for being his disciple. But Jesus did promised that even in shouldering that cross, he is always close to guard, protect, to console and to encourage them.
The daily cross(es) we are to carry as Christians constitute the enjoyable things of the world, the appetizing pleasurable worldly endowments, in comparison to the heavenly glory which is still in-actualized  promise. The crosses are those demanding natural preferences which somewhat impedes our pilgrim journey to eternity.
As true disciples, we are not to allow the world and its enticements to use us, but we are to use the world to gain heaven. It should not detain or imprison us but we should use the world as a steeping stone to actualize our spiritual destiny. This invariably cannot be achieved if we don't first of all deny ourselves, conquer our self, our humanness, and resolve to follow Christ. Therefore we should be ready to turn back from all that poised to deter us from the heavenly glory, no matter how close they are to us or attractive or appealing they are to us.
Although heavy cross and burden for us as humans, we should draw consolations and encouragements daily from Christ who first  bore the cross and went ahead of us to show us the way. If we  faithfully carry the cross behind Jesus drawing strength from him, no matter how heavy it may seem to us, Christ will definitely lighten it for us and make it easier for us to carry.
May the good Lord give us the grace to prefer and love Christ above all things and to carry our own merited cross daily, that we may gain entrance into his heavenly kingdom, through Christ one Lord.

H. A. P. P. Y.   S. U. N. D. A. Y
peace be with you✋🏻