Young Christian, there are two paths available for discipleship. If you feel the need to be discipled to make yourself more pleasing and fruitful to the Lord than you are today. One way will transform us into the image of Christ. The other way will have varied results.

1. We can be discipled directly by Jesus, and we can slowly become useful to God (in a hidden way). By seeking him diligently (preferably with others) we learn to hear him inwardly then submit to his life, then we die daily with him, then gradually we are transformed into his image. This way can be slow and painful and is almost always out of the spotlight. OR….
2. We can work on our church-skills and build an impressive resume, we can find a guru-like leader to take us under their wing at bible college or church. We can polish up our personality by hard work and discipline, we can kick out our weaknesses by playing the part, by faking it till we make it. This way itself can also be a prosperous career path, it can get you famous and rich if you do well. Then when we become clergy we can grab a mic and say “everybody look…look at me, look what the Lord has done!”. We can say that all we want but deep within, we know it’s been mostly our own doing.