There is something I have been praying about due to recent events around me. Charles H. Spurgeon famously stated, “If you have to give a carnival to get people to come to church, then you will have to keep giving carnivals to keep them coming back.” Because of those words I contemplate one question, “What does it really mean to follow Jesus?” I am not sure if the scales have been removed from my eyes by the Holy Spirit or if I am a little delusional, but here I go? All that I believed in the past I have not always understood as clearly as I do now. For much of my Christian life, I have heard the “Christianese” language of being saved, accepting Christ, making a decision to follow Jesus, and becoming a Christian. None of those things are wrong. In fact, the Bible makes it very clear that we must repent, believe in Jesus Christ, and be born again. Salvation is the greatest gift we could ever receive. But the more I read the words of the Lord Jesus, the more I realize that salvation was never intended to be the end of the story. It is the beginning of an intense sanctification process.

Jesus did not tell His disciples to go into all the world and make converts. He told them to make disciples. It is written in Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.” I have read those words time and time again, but I find myself reading them differently at this stage of my walk. Jesus did not simply say to tell people about Him. He told His disciples to make disciples, to teach them to obey everything He commanded and in turn having those discipled to continue the process.

There is a difference between becoming a convert and becoming a disciple. A convert may make an outward decision to believe in Jesus, but a disciple makes the decision to actively follow Him. A convert may know that Jesus died for their sins, but a disciple begins to ask what it means to die to self and live for Christ. A convert may want the forgiveness Jesus offers, while a disciple begins to desire the transformation Jesus brings. I am not saying that conversion is unimportant. Quite the opposite. Conversion is the miraculous beginning of a new life in Christ. But if we stop with the proclamation, we have stopped before Jesus has accomplished the life changing work He desires for us.

When Jesus called His first disciples, He did not simply ask them to believe that He existed. He said, “Follow Me.” It is written in Mark 1:17  And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me [as My disciples, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk], and I will make you fishers of men.” They left their nets, their occupations, their familiar surroundings and the lives they had known, and they began to walk with Him. They listened to Him, watched Him, learned from Him, asked Him questions, made mistakes, were corrected, and slowly began to understand what it meant to live differently because they belonged to Him. That is what discipleship looks like to me. It is not simply knowing about Jesus. It is learning how to live like someone who belongs to Him and it is important to have genuine followers example His qualities to others.

I like what is written in John 8:31 So Jesus was saying to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word [continually obeying My teachings and living in accordance with them, then] you are truly My disciples. Those words challenge me because they make discipleship much more personal than simply identifying myself as a cultural Christian. They force me to ask if His Word is doing anything in my life. Am I simply reading my Bible, or am I allowing my Document of Authority to change me? Am I learning what Jesus said, or am I actually trying to obey what He commanded? Am I following Him when His direction agrees with what I want, or am I willing to follow Him when He leads me somewhere I would not have chosen for myself?

It is easy to say Jesus is Lord with your mouth. It is much more difficult to allow Him to actually be Lord over your entire life from your heart. Many say that He is the Lord of their lives while still trying to maintain control over the parts that they do not want Him to touch. Some call Him Lord while refusing to forgive someone for the pain they endured. Think of how many call Him Lord while holding tightly to their possessions. I have seen people call Him Lord while allowing anger, pride, lust, bitterness or selfishness to remain because they are not willing to surrender those things to Him. There are men in pulpits all over the world who know what His Word says and still choose self proclamation over selfless servitude. That is where discipleship becomes uncomfortable because following Jesus eventually brings everyone face to face with the worst parts of themselves.

I have had to deal with my own sinful nature, character defects, and moral shortcomings to the point of tears. Sometimes I question my faith when I read what is written in John 14:15 says, “If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments.” I have thought about that verse many times. Jesus did not say that obedience earns His love. He said that obedience is connected to our love for Him. That distinction matters. I do not obey Jesus so that He will love me. I obey because He already loves me. I do not obey to earn salvation. I obey because I have received salvation. My obedience is not an attempt to purchase God’s grace. It is my response to the grace He has already given me and that is difficult for me to accept because I know that I am a wretched sinner.

I think sometimes I have become so concerned about avoiding legalism that I have become hesitant to live out obedience at all. But Jesus spoke about obedience frequently. He called people to follow Him, to deny themselves, to love their enemies, to forgive, to serve, to give, to pray, to trust God, to care for the poor, to tell the truth and to love one another. Those are the qualities of a genuine disciple. Christianity was never meant to be simply something we believe. It is something that changes the way we live life and how we love others.

The Bible gives us a picture of what happened after thousands of people responded to the Gospel at Pentecost. It is written in Acts 2:42 They were continually and faithfully devoting themselves to the instruction of the apostles, and to fellowship, to eating meals together and to prayers. I find that description beautiful because they did not simply believe on Sunday and then go back to life as usual Monday thru Saturday. They devoted themselves to learning regularly. They devoted themselves to one another continually. They prayed together fervently. They broke bread together humbly. They became part of a community that was learning what it meant to follow Jesus and not just going to a building thinking church was an event and not the congregation of the saints chosen by God.

That is what I believe the Church should be. Certainly, we should preach the Gospel. We should call people to repentance and faith. We should rejoice when someone comes to Christ. But we should also walk with them afterward. We should teach them how to pray, how to read Scripture, how to forgive, how to serve, how to resist temptation, how to love people who are difficult to love, how to endure suffering and how to obey Jesus when obedience is costly. We should not simply celebrate the moment someone raises their hand at an altar call and then leave them to figure out the Christian life on their own. So many times something changes between the altar and the door.

I have had to ask myself a difficult question: Am I more interested in seeing people coming to the church I attend or seeing people becoming genuine disciples of the Lord Jesus? There is a difference with eternity in the balance. It is possible to celebrate a profession of faith and never see the person develop a relationship with the Lord. It is possible to invite someone to church without ever inviting them into the kingdom. It is possible to teach someone the Gospel without teaching them how to live out the Gospel to the glory of God. It is easy to count decisions from the pulpit without ever knowing whether those decisions are producing lifelong disciples.

I do not ask the questions I do because I think I have all of this figured out. I ask them because I know how easy it is for me to become satisfied with something less than what Jesus commanded. There have been times where I was excited about numbers, attendance, activity and visible results because those things are easy to measure. But discipleship is different. You cannot always measure it immediately. Sometimes discipleship looks like sitting across a table from someone for an hour and listening to them without saying a word. Sometimes it looks like opening the Bible with someone who has never learned how to study it. Sometimes it looks like answering a difficult question that can only be reasoned from the Scriptures. Sometimes it means correcting someone gently guided by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it means walking with someone through a failure and reminding them that falling does not mean they have to stay down, and then helping them to stand firm in the faith. Discipleship takes time because people take time.

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My BeLoved, may the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen. In Christ Love, douglas. HE>i. pastord.blog

Special Note: I want to thank those who read what I write and are encouraged to support the ministry God has entrusted to me either one time or have decided to give on a monthly basis. I am encouraged to see certain verses playing out before my eyes like what is written in *Philippians 4:16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.*

To any who are interested, please feel free to reach out to me with prayer requests, questions, encouragement, or for information on how to come alongside me with financial support at pastord.blog@gmail.com or I do have a Zelle account associated with my phone number, 5202720387 last name Blaser. Thank you my Beloved for your ongoing prayers and support.