A Disciple of Jesus

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”.

A disciple means a pupil or student. The disciples were the people who chose to follow Jesus Christ and to listen to His teaching. They called Him rabbi, or teacher. I guess I am also becoming a disciple of Jesus each passing day.

The word disciple literally means a LEARNER (just like me). According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, disciple denotes “one who follows another’s teaching” (the way I am trying to follow the teachings of Jesus). But a disciple can always not only be a learner, he also has to be an ADHERENT. For this reason disciples are also spoken of as IMITATORS of their teachers. Simply put, a disciple is a learner (like me), who’s primary teacher in life is Jesus.

All this is beautifully mentioned in the website: http://executableoutlines.com/cw/cw_00.htm

So, the million dollar question here is how to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ?

According to http://www.kenwooldridge.org/becomedisciple.html, Jesus Christ has four hundred million disciples throughout the world today and hopefully YOU (me) are one of them. A disciple of Jesus is someone who follows, learns and is loyal to Jesus regardless of the cost. (Luke 14:27) “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple”.

It is true that Jesus wants everyone to be His disciples. (Matthew 11:28) – “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.

A disciple of Christ must experience salvation. It’s written in www.kenwooldridge.org that “God the Father looked upon humanity and saw what Satan had done to mankind. From the time of Adam until then, about four thousand years, he Satan had targeted and attacked man in all areas of life. He had tormented man’s body with every conceivable type of sickness and contaminated man’s mind with thoughts of sin, violence, confusion and evil. He disturbed, disrupted, distorted and destroyed the equilibrium of man’s emotional state and men and women became children of wrath. Man’s will capitulated, became weak and became enslaved to the lusts of the flesh”.

So, deciding to be a disciple of Jesus is the most important, and the best decision I could have made in my life. By obeying His commandments and serving my fellowmen (as an animator, catechist and Eucharistic minister), I have become a better disciple of Jesus Christ.

The thumb rule of a true disciple is that he/she must put his Master above those nearest and dearest to Him. Jesus is calling everyone to be His disciple – being a disciple of Jesus Christ is costly (Luke 14:26) - “whoever comes to me cannot be my disciple unless he loves me more than he loves his family”.

I came across this beautiful thought from today’s “3-minute Retreat” by Loyola Press. Here are the excerpts:

Psalm 34:15

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

This verse includes four action verbs – turn, do, seek and pursue. The life of discipleship is active, dynamic and vigilant. A disciple is constantly in the process of personal conversion. This process creates a chain reaction that gathers momentum as it goes, leading others to experience the peace and freedom of the Kingdom of God.

So I pray to Jesus Christ and thank Him for calling me to conversion of life. I pray to Him to guide my feet on the path to peace. Amen!!!