Explain the meaning of Discipleship for the First Disciples

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Explain the meaning of Discipleship for the First Disciples?

"If anyone needs to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34)

Discipleship was obviously very hard and trying for the first disciples and indeed they struggled to live up to it and in some cases misunderstood some of its concepts. For example, (Mark 8 31-33) The First Prophecy of the Passion. Peter totally misunderstood who Jesus was and what he was destined for. The first disciples had to take a lot in and sometimes it did get too much for them. Jesus though I feel had a lot of confidence in them from the moment he chooses them; he saw special gifts and talents in them.

The disciples though were called by Jesus to lead by example, to love, spread the word of God and sacrifice all they had to the extent of dying. I will expand on these ideas and back it up using scripture.

For me the most core value for the first disciples was FAITH.

Peter spoke up and said to him, "You are the Christ" (Mark 8:29-30)

The meaning of discipleship for the first disciples was faith. As I have already pointed out the disciples sometimes failed to understand some concepts of Jesus' teachings but in time as long as they had strong faith would be able to comprehend them. If the disciples did have a lack of faith and in some cases did they wouldn't have been able to fulfil their potential, you cannot teach or preach the Word of God if you don't believe it. For me I believe the first disciples were chosen because Jesus saw some faith in them, this faith later influenced their understanding of the Word of God and their willingness to preach it through any persecution. Jesus described the power and the potential in a "mustard seed" of faith in Mark chapter four, verses 21-34. The disciples showed this by leaving all to follow him. (Mark2:14) "Jesus said 'Follow me.' And Levi got up and followed him."
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The calming of the storm is an example of when the disciples had a complete lack of faith and were extremely frightened. "Jesus said, 'Peace! Be still!' Then the wind ceased and there was dead calm. He said to them, 'Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" (Mark 4: 39-42). This shows me that discipleship was a learning process and it showed the first disciples to have faith.

"As he went ashore he saw a great crowd and he had compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd." (Mark 6: 34-35). I feel ...

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