Christian
Discipleship
We
proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may
present everyone mature in Christ.—Colossians
1:28
Discipleship is personally transferring the full dimensions of your
relationship with Christ to the person you are walking with. It is not the
imparting of spiritual disciplines as much as it is acquainting another with a
Person you love. Paul said that he would teach and urge with all his strength
that every person God placed in his life would come to a complete experience of
the person of Christ (Col. 1:29). He was
not satisfied with people becoming partially like Christ. He would not rest
until those around him were perfect, or complete, in Christ. That is, that the
fruits of the Spirit were being fully expressed through each life and the
character of Christ was reflected in each person (Gal. 5:22).
We can mistake Christian activity with becoming like Christ. Christian
activity and Christlikeness are not the same things. We must not assume that
because our friend attends church and reads her Bible, she is growing as a
Christian.
Christian activities are an important expression of your relationship with
Christ. They can lead you to a relationship, but the danger is assuming that
your religious activity is the relationship. If you are only encouraging
those around you to attend Christian activities, then you have not "discipled”
them the way Paul did. You do your fellow Christians an injustice by teaching
them that Christian activity is equal to Christian maturity. Do not rest until
those around you have become "perfect” in Christ. If God has put new Christians
under your care, you have an obligation to "stay with them” until they have
reached Christian maturity. —Experiencing God Day by Day
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