Being a Disciple is NOT the Same as Being Christ Like

          Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “disciple” as; ‘One who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another, such as Christianity, to be a convinced follower of a particular idea or church.’  According to that definition, ANYone who believes in something can be described as a disciple, whether their beliefs are founded in truth or not. 

         As the church, we sometimes can be narrow minded and only think of the particular group of followers of Jesus that the Bible called His disciples. Being a so-called disciple, and being “Christ-like” are two totally different  ideologies, we only have to study the lives of the disciples to know that they were not always Christ-like.

As we all know, just because one considers himself a disciple, does not automatically make him like Jesus. Just because you identify as an Apple, does not mean you are an Apple Pie. Becoming the pie, takes a process, just as becoming more and more like Jesus is a process. 

         

         In John 17:3, it states that the way to a “real” life with Jesus is by getting to “know” Him. The word “know” here, in Greek is the word Ginosko.  Ginosko means to actually take in knowledge, it suggests that there is a process of knowledge. 

         The only way to experience real life, the abundant life, is to get to intimately know Jesus.  What a privilege that we get to commune with the Creator of the world, we get to call Him Daddy, daddy! The Word says that “If you love me, you’ll keep my commands”. This was not meant as a threat, but instead more like advice from a loving Father to a son, saying you don’t have to worry about disobeying me, because the more you love me, you’ll want to keep my commands. The closer are to Jesus, the less we act like the world, that’s just a fact. It’s called cause and effect. Because we spend time getting to know Him, the effect is becoming more like Him. 

         A sobering thought that hit me last week, was this; ‘We are only as close to Jesus as we want to be’. What a profound statement. My prayer is that I will not only be a disciple, and follow Jesus, but that I won’t stop there like so many believers do, I want to strive to be more like Him every day, with every decision that I make. I want to take my ordinary life, and place it before God as an offering. I want to fix my attention on Jesus, and not get distracted by the world, so that He will develop maturity in me, and bring out the best in me.