Not a fan

I must admit, I am taking the title of today's post from a book I'm seen.  You see, we shouldn't be fans of Jesus Christ.

A fan will do a lot of crazy things for the object of his/her fanaticism, whether it's midnight releases, standing in line for hours, attending conventions, or any such self-imposed rigors.  Fans, however, just do the outward motions.  They'll buy the toys, but leave them in mint condition; they'll dress up as their favorite characters, but not truly examine what those characters teach;  they'll speak loudly in favor of a social virtue but do little or nothing in their own lives to make that virtue more common.

In short, we shouldn't be fans of Jesus Christ--instead, we should be His disciples.

To the uninformed, the disciple may seem just as illogical as the fan.  The disciple, for example, will donate large amounts of money and time to an organization with far more money and manpower than the disciple has.  He/she will give up previous or potential habits, will, at great effort, deliberately avoid seemingly harmless, socially acceptable behavior, and will, quite literally, change his/her life in order to accommodate the teachings of a lot of dead people.

Today, it seems like it's easier to be a fan than a disciple: the fan just has to jump and shout a lot, while the disciple has the quiet job of changing human nature.

Both will be highly visible efforts.  No one camps out days before a book signing without understanding that people will see you; no one gives up gluttony or vulgar speech without coming to terms with its social ramifications.

Of the two, discipleship is the hardest, and it is discipleship which is asked of us.  We're not asked to go about an occasional, herculean effort; instead, we're asked to work day-in and day-out.