A large crowd
followed the Savior as He ministered by the
shore of the Sea of Galilee. So that more could hear Him, He
got into Peter's fishing boat and asked to be taken a
little way out from the shore. After He had
finished speaking, He told Peter, who had fished
all night without success, to go out in the
lake and let down his nets in the deep water. Peter obeyed, and he caught so
many fish that the nets broke. Peter called to his
partners James and John to come and help. All were amazed at the number
of fish that were caught. Jesus said to Peter, "Fear
not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." Luke then tells
us, when they had brought their ships to
land, "they forsook all, and followed him." They became the
Lord's disciples. The word for disciple and
the word for discipline both come from the
same Latin root discipulus, which means pupil. It emphasizes
practice or exercise. Self-discipline and self-control
are consistent and permanent characteristics of the
followers of Jesus, as exemplified by
Peter, James, and John, who indeed forsook
all and followed Him. What is discipleship? It is primarily
obedience to the Savior. Discipleship
includes many things. It is chastity. It is tithing. It is family home evening. It is keeping all
the commandments. It is forsaking anything
that is not good for us. Everything in life has a price. Considering the Savior's great
promise for peace in this life and eternal life in
the life to come, discipleship is a
price worth paying. It is a price we cannot
afford not to pay. By measure, the
requirements of discipleship are much, much less than
the promised blessings.