Psalm 84:5, Ephesians 2:10, 2 Corinthians 3:18

Matt Summerfield

The word Christian appears only three times in our Bibles and yet the word disciple appears over 260 times. The original Greek word for disciple is 'mathetes' which means 'learner' or 'student'. In fact the best description would be 'apprentice'.

When Jesus calls men and women to be his disciples he is inviting them to become his apprentices, his students. The question is - what is he looking to teach? Well, Jesus is not looking to impart skills and knowledge. That is not his agenda. Jesus is looking to impart something of himself into his followers. That they would become like him.

So when Jesus invites the first disciples to 'follow him', he's inviting them to begin a journey where His way of life, becomes their way of life. That they would think the way he thinks, do what he does, feel what he feels - and through doing this, they would discover real life.

But this is not a one off exercise. We're all very much aware how far we fall short of living like Jesus on a regular basis. Learning to live like Jesus is a process - a journey. The Psalmist puts it this way in Psalm 84:5.

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage"

It's going to take the rest of your life for God to build character in you, the character qualities of Jesus Christ. That means we all need to commit to a life of learning, recognising that God is continually at work in us (Ephesians 2:10). I love the fact that the Apostle Paul recognized that he was work-in-progress. He was very much aware of his failings but equally committed to learn day-by-day to be more like Jesus. This is the way Eugene Peterson describes Paul's reflections from Philippians 3 in The Message.

"I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward-to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back"

So we need to recognize that the process of becoming like Christ is a daily journey of allowing God space to work in our lives. God is in the business of transformation.
Transforming us to be like Jesus, which is a work of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

A good friend of mine has been following Jesus for over sixty years. He has a simple mission in life 'To know Jesus better than I do, and to be more like Him than I am'. You could have worse things to go for...