What does it mean to follow Jesus? This Lent, learn from those who did it first.
The commitment to follow Jesus means choosing the way of a disciple every day, in matters both major and mundane. This path is sure to bring challenges, even sacrifices, but the joy to be found makes every step worthwhile. This Lent, learn from the successes and trials of Jesus’s earliest isciples—not only the Twelve, but Mary and Martha, others who stepped into leadership after Jesus’s death, and even the apostle Paul.
Written by New Testament scholar Marianne Blickenstaff, each week of this six-session study explores a different quality of discipleship, while pondering how Jesus
- gave the disciples the faith to take risks as they left everything to follow him
- gave the disciples courage through God’s calming presence
- taught that learning and devotion are requirements of discipleship
- corrected their aspirations to greatness and taught them humility;
- sent the disciples out in twos to work together in community
- demonstrated perseverance in the darkest hours
Ideal for individual, group, or congregation-wide study, each week includes questions for group discussion or individual reflection and a suggested prayer. Be challenged by the example of biblical disciples and discover ways to grow their traits within yourself to strengthen your own journey of faith.
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Marianne Blickenstaff has taught biblical studies and languages at Belmont University and Vanderbilt University in Nashville and at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She was project manager for the five- volume New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (Abingdon) and served as an acquisition editor for Westminster John Knox Press. She is the writer of many Bible studies and a book, While the Bridegroom Is with Them (T&T Clark, 2005), about the radical nature of Jesus's call to discipleship.