the hardest role to play

The late Leonard Bernstein was once asked which musical instrument was the hardest to play. After considering the question for a moment, the composer and conductor replied, “The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm – that’s a problem. And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.” The same is true in the life of the church. What is needed today are more disciples willing to learn to play the second fiddle with enthusiasm.

John Koessler, True Discipleship, p. 46.

[Jesus’] goal for us, although it will not be fully realized until eternity, is nothing short of perfection. “To shrink back from that plan is not humility;” warned [C. S.] Lewis, “it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania; it is obedience.”

John Koessler, True Discipleship, p. 28,
quoting C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 173.

pride of humility

“False humility,” Os Guinness has warned, “is actually self-driven and self-absorbed. A person who is falsely humble is a person who is truly proud.”

John Koessler, True Discipleship, p. 42-43,
quoting Os Guinness, Steering Through Chaos, p. 61.

prayer key to growth

R. A. Torrey underscored the foundational role of prayer in the disciple’s spiritual life when he noted: “Other things being equal, your growth and mine will be in exact proportion to the time and to the heart we put into prayer.”

John Koessler, True Discipleship, p. 84,
quoting R. A. Torrey, The Power of Prayer, p. 18.

called to new life

Horatius Bonar, the Scottish pastor and hymn writer of the nineteenth century, made this observation about the nature of the Christian life: “It is to new life that God is calling us; not to some new steps in life, some habits or motives or prospects, but to a new life.”

John Koessler, True Discipleship: The Art of Following Jesus, p. 12.