Every time I hear the word disciple, I am reminded of Jesus Christ, He had 12 of them all from different backgrounds. Some of them were fishermen, another one was a tax collector and He still had a thief among them imagine that! You’d think that Jesus would pick the well known respected and conversant with the law like the Pharisees or Sadducees or the leaders of the day, but naah! Jesus went on to choose the locals whom no one knew a history about, but through these 12men, we see the rise of discipleship and the church. They left everything they had and followed their Master learning from Him for 3 years, but they didn’t know they were being equipped for greatness.
The Bible has always used numbers as a way of communicating to us, more so like how Jesus used parables to bring a deeper message of what He was teaching. Take for example, Jonah was buried in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights and in Matthew 12:38-42, Jesus co-relates the story of Jonah to what He would go through when the Pharisees asked Him for sign. “An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign. Yet no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah,because just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea creature for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.” Numbers have a meaning, and the 12 disciples was not a coincidence.
Why then was Jesus particular in choosing 12 disciples? Why didn’t He choose the 3 that were in His inner circle, Peter, James and John? Well 12 is the number that the tribes of Israel were divided into, the 12 sons of Jacob whom God gave the name Israel. Jesus chose the 12 disciples to equip them to continue the work that He had already started. Its good to note that Jesus carried Himself in a way that the disciples could emulate Him. I mean these guys walked with the Son of God, ate with Him and saw Him perform miracles signs and wonders but the beauty in all this was not the past that they were having with Jesus, rather than He was preparing them for the future. You see that’s what a great master does, teaches and prepares the disciples for the task ahead and quite frankly, as we read the Bible, we get to see that Jesus did an outstanding job. After He left, the men that were timid, quiet and afraid were now Spirit filled, bold and took up their roles with their heads held high, even if it meant they would die spreading the Word – now this is true discipleship. They went ahead and added to their numbers, growing by the day and we get to meet Matthias who replaced Judas who had betrayed Jesus and then hung himself and Paul who was once referred to as Saul but who went on to write most of the books of the New Testament.
A disciple is a follower, a pupil of a teacher or a leader. A true disciple is not only a follower of what their leader stood for because it takes more than just being a student who follows, you need to believe so much in what you learn, such that it becomes part of who you are and you action on your belief. What about us? Are we true disciples of Christ? If so, do we follow in His footsteps? As believers do we truly know what it means to be a disciple of Christ? John 3:14 “as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.” Ask yourself this question, ‘is the Son of Man lifted up in your life?’
Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 16:24, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Following Jesus means that He is not a side show, but He’s at the center of your life, your very being and in everything He is involved. It’s an everyday affair and not when you feel like it, or just on Sunday mornings when you go to church. A true disciple will praise when they have plenty and when they lack, He still remains God. Frankly speaking I think that many people have lost their faith in God when they went through hard times while still for others, they completely abandoned their salvation. On the contrary, James 1:2-4 tells us how it ought to be, “count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Don’t be like the wife of Job who advised him to curse God and die when he lost everything but rather hold on like a true soldier in battle in the army of God when trials and hardships come along, this is what a true disciple does, stands firm. “Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong,”1Corinthians 16:13, God didn’t say it would be an easy ride, but He did say that “never will I leave you, never will I forsake you,” Hebrews 13:5.
Each of us has been given an opportunity as the writer of Ecclesiastes 9:11-12writes,“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” In other words, we all have an equal opportunity with our destiny, how we handle it, is entirely up to us. Jesus will not come to die on the cross again, His work there is finished as He clearly stated, but our work is far from over. Our work is to become faithful disciples of Christ, people who will share the gospel with the world and unbelievers. However, for us to become disciples, we first must live a life that reflects what being a true disciple of Christ is all about. Does your life speak of Christ? Or is it a mere reflection of Him? Do your colleagues or friends know that you are born again? Or are you too embarrassed to be identified with Christ? I remember sometime back I wrote a post on Facebook and I will never forget how a friend inboxed me to say that I shouldn’t fill their timelines with posts of Christianity to which I replied I won’t stop and that if they didn’t want to see any of it, then they only had to click the unfriend button because I wasn’t going to be embarrassed of my Savior. Let’s just say, that years later, these very posts helped her when she was going through a tough time.
Today, take some time and reflect on your life. If you are a believer, how has your walk been with Christ? Have you been a true disciple? If not, are you willing to start all over again? Have you accepted Christ as your Savior? If not, please pray this prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, I come to you, I confess am a sinner. Please forgive me of all my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Write my name in the Lamb’s Book of Life, from today, I accept you as Lord and Savior over my life, I welcome you into my heart and into my life. Teach me your ways, fill me with you Holy Spirit and walk with me in this journey called life. Amen.
It’s that simple, if you prayed this prayer, you are now a child of God, welcome to the Kingdom! Let no one lie to you that Christianity is boring, its rather the opposite, we get to talk with God and speak in foreign languages declaring of His goodness and one day, we will meet our Lord and Savior, this we are guaranteed as His disciples and we will receive a crown of life. Would you rather gamble with uncertainty or certainty? I choose the latter and I hope you do too.
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” James 1:12
Blessings!!
Cynthia Gitonga Blog 