Following the Leader
You've trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. You're a new Christian. You have the gift of eternal life. Now you wonder, Is that all there is? If there's more, what's next?
You've started the greatest adventure of your life, and you want to do it right. What would Jesus tell you to do?
What Does God Say?
Your next step after receiving Christ is to begin growing as a disciple. A disciple is a follower of a teacher, and for a Christian that means Jesus. How do you become a disciple of Jesus? When you trust Christ as your Savior, He calls you to move forward in your Christian life, to follow Him and learn constantly from Him. He calls you to become like Him--to be one of His disciples.
Jesus says that being His disciple involves service: "If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him" (John 12:26 ESV).
But discipleship goes deeper than mere Christian service. Here are some other things Jesus said about being His disciple. Look at the following verses and write down the requirements Jesus gives for being a disciple. Ask yourself how each one affects you as a Christian disciple.
- John 8:31
- John 15:8
- John 13:35
- Luke 14:33
- Luke 14:27
- Luke 6:40
My Thoughts
If you're a disciple, then you've made some choices. You're willing to give up your life for your Teacher; you're willing to be taught, with the goal of becoming like Him; you're willing to hand over the reins of your life to Christ.
There's another word that is closely related to the word, "disciple." It is "discipline." One definition of discipline is "training that corrects, molds or perfects the mental faculties or moral character."
You will learn that there are several disciplines that will make you a better disciple. Let's look at just two of them:
In John 8:31, Jesus mentions abiding or dwelling in His Word. Here is what a noted Bible scholar says about the discipline of Bible study:
*"There can be no real discipleship apart from Bible study. Bible study is no option for Christians. It cannot even be a minor, occasional, or 'vacation time' pursuit. Bible study is the most essential ingredient in the believer's spiritual life, because it is only in study of the Bible as that is blessed by the Holy Spirit that Christians hear Christ and discover what it means to follow Him."
Another discipline that is vital to your growth as a disciple is prayer. *Oswald Chambers said: "The point of prayer is not to get answers from God; the goal of prayer is perfect and complete oneness with God."
My Part
Go before the Lord in prayer right now. Thank Him for the great salvation He has freely given you in Christ, then ask Him to make you the kind of disciple He wants you to be. Ask Him to make your daily time in His Word the core of your life as a follower of Jesus. Ask Him to change and mature you more and more into oneness with Him.
Someone has said "A Christian is a mind through which Christ thinks; a heart through which Christ loves; a voice through which Christ speaks; a hand through which Christ helps."
Does that describe your life?
*James Montgomery Boice, Christ's Call to Discipleship, p. 52.
* Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, (August 6).
What Does God Say?
My Thoughts
My Part
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