Am I a disciple of Christ? A disciple is one who ‘follows’, ‘believes’, ‘supports, is a ‘student’ and is ‘devoted’. When I study the meaning of the word disciple I find the answer to my question gains some depth and weight. In reality being a disciple takes so much more than just saying, “Yes. I am a disciple of Christ.”

In Matthew 4 Jesus calls two brothers Peter, and Andrew, to be His disciples, “And He saith unto them, FOLLOW ME and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway (immediately, at once) left their nets and FOLLOWED HIM.” (Matt. 4:19-20)

Now the word ‘follow’ means to ‘track’, ‘monitor’, ‘shadow’ and to ‘keep your eye on’. The word is a verb which means that to ‘FOLLOW’ Christ, and learn to be a disciple, is a life that is active. Christ spent over three years training His disciples and it was three years of activity. Every day they would be actively learning, as ‘students’, how to become ‘fishers of men’. The lessons would be difficult, and challenging, and many times Christ would have to repeat the lesson. Some of us can identify with the original disciples because we are also slow learners.

A key to our discipleship is to remember that Christ said for us to ‘FOLLOW HIM’. Jesus didn’t tell Peter to follow John and later for Matthew to follow Mark. Each time the lesson Christ presented in discipleship the foundation was “FOLLOW ME”. The key lesson to learn in discipleship is who it is we are to ‘FOLLOW’! JESUS IS THE Master Teacher in Discipleship 101. It is Jesus that we are to be ‘tracking’, ‘monitoring’, ‘shadowing’ and ‘keeping our eyes on’!