If a person is motivated by love of God and love of your neighbour then it is possible to become a disciple. Saints are an example of people who are motivated by love of God and you neighbour. They have devoted their lives to living like a disciple. Every Christian has a vocation to follow Jesus because they were baptised. Through Holy Orders certain people chose to fully devote their lives to living like Jesus. Others may do this through charity, which is the basis for Christian life. The theological virtues of faith, love and hope will also link a Christian with God.
Jesus allows us free will to accept or like the ‘rich young man’ decline his invitation or call to become a disciple. Our freewill enables us to respond to Jesus call and human virtues govern our actions. The four cardinal virtues will help us bring Jesus’ teaching into everyday life. They are Prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.
Jesus’ teachings bring people happiness therefore they are still relevant today. In the story of the epileptic boy Jesus replied to the father of the boy “everything is possible for him who believes”. This will give Christians encouragement to have faith when they question their faith.
Some people believe that it is not possible to be a disciple of Jesus in the modern world because they have a lack of faith. Like the disciples that didn’t believe that Jesus had risen Christians will experience doubts at some point in their life. As we live in a materialistic world some people feel that they don’t need to follow Jesus. These people have other priorities like money, power, fame and they only care about themselves and not the state that the world is in.
A lot less people are going to mass or practising their faith and believe that there is no relevance in the sacraments. If the parents attend mass on a regular basis and practise their faith then their children will do the same. If they don’t then their children will grow up believing that they don’t need their faith. People may feel that they don’t need God or want to follow Jesus’ teachings because of the suffering that they have gone through and the evil in the world today.
You must have faith if you are to follow Jesus’ teachings.
