Being a believer of Jesus is more than saying “I am a Christian” or “I love Jesus”, you have to show Jesus that you are a Christian and that you do love Him. It is about action (1 John 3:18, James 2:18-20).
With that being said, today I will be encouraging you to be an active follower of Christ. If you feel like you’ve been lukewarm in your relationship Christ, or you may not know what it means to be a disciple or Jesus, I pray that today’s Wisdom Wednesday blog post will help you understand how to be a disciple of Christ and encourage you to be a true depiction on who God is, as you live your life in Him on earth.
Verse of the Day:
What does “disciple of Christ” mean?
The word “disciple” in Greek is mathetes which means a learner/student/follower who engages in learning through instruction and training from a teacher.
Hence, as disciples of Christ, we are to be students of God’s word, commandments and instructions so that we are able to follow our teacher, Jesus, accordingly.
Therefore, we have to discipline ourselves (which is where we get the word “disciple”), which includes daily training, educating and following God’s teachings to be an active disciple of Christ.
Following Jesus requires being an active disciple and being aware of “what would Jesus do?” in situations that you are faced in. Thus, you cannot be a lukewarm follower of Christ, because you will need to apply the teachings you have learnt from the word of God, and the example Jesus has set forth for us.
How to be a disciple of Christ?
In today’s verse(s) of the day, John 13:34-35, Jesus explains to Peter that in order to know that you are a disciple of Jesus, you must “love one another” as Jesus “loved you” first.
Now maybe like me, you might be asking yourself, “but how does loving other people show that you are a disciple of Jesus?”.
Well, this is why I am here to help and explain these things to you.
As, I was studying this word for today, I gathered that as a disciple of Christ when someone sees your behaviour, they should see a difference from those who are unbelievers who act accordingly to how the world functions, between believers who are followers of Christ, who act accordingly to who Jesus is.
This means, as disciples of Christ, you are a walking embodiment of God. Therefore, whatever you do because people know that you are a Christian, they will look to you to represent God.
They will look to you to recognise and understand the characteristics of God.
Some people in their lifetime will never pick up a bible and therefore will not know who Jesus is and what He did for us on the cross.
But through your behaviour, through the way you treat people, through the way you love people, they will notice that there is something different about you. And that is where you tell them:
“It is Jesus. I am just following what Jesus has done for me and humanity, and I want to share that with the world through the same actions He has done.”
Have you ever been faced with or noticed how unbelievers pin their negative emotions on God through how Christians have acted towards them or someone else?
The same way, this happens with positive emotions. When people see you do something nice and know that you are a Christian, it reflects and represents God also in a nice and positive way.
You may be asking, but why is this?
This is because we serve an invisible God. So, we can’t see God.
As a result, people will look to disciples of Jesus, because we are visible, to see how God is like.
That is why in 1 John 4:20 it says “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
See, this verse explains that we can’t even see God, yet we say we love Him. But the same God who created your own family, friends and people who you see and are made in the image of God – you don’t like them, and it can go as far as you hate them.
Let’s look at Jesus for example, He is “… the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” (Colossians 1:15). As He lived on earth, He represented and reflected the image of God by the way He showed love, compassion, grace, miracles and works.
And that is what we ought to do. It isn’t even an option, it is a commandment which means it is a rule, an instruction that as disciples of Christ, we must follow and obey.
So, when we see in the bible that we are to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-16), realise that it is because Jesus, Himself said that He is the light of the world (John 8:12).
When, Jesus tells us to love others, it is because He loved us first (1 John 4:19).
And when we see we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation etc., it is because Jesus is those things also.
Have you caught on that there is a common thread here?
Because we are made in the image of Him, therefore what we do will reflect Him.
Reflection
With that being said, I want you to use this time to reflect and answer these questions:
- Do you actively try to train, educate and follow God’s instructions, teachings and commandments?
- If no, why do you think this may be the case?
- If yes, in what way have you represented Jesus on earth to others?
- What area(s) do you think you need to work on yourself to represent and reflect Christ in this world?
- And how will you work better at it?
Thank you for taking the time to read and be encouraged by the Word today. May it push you to be a visible representation of the invisible God. May it encourage you to model your life the way Jesus lived His life. May it train you to actively find and go out of your way to be more like Christ.
Stay Blessed,
Divine L.
Hi, I am Divine L., your sister-in-F.A.I.T.H., who is passionate about discipling Christian girls to be a walking embodiment of Jesus Christ in their daily lives and to help young girls and woman become who God destined for them to become. It is a great blessing to welcome you to the F.A.I.T.H. sisterhood!