Christianity is Discipleship

If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, 

and take up his cross daily and follow Me. (Luke 9:23)

There can be no doubt from reading the New Testament that definition of Christianity is "discipleship" - a submitting to and following after Jesus Christ as Lord.  While we will all struggle with following Jesus perfectly due to our sin nature, the genuine desire and overall characteristic of the Christian life is a seeking and striving to be like Jesus.  Any profession of being a Christian without an ongoing practice of being a Christian is deficient mutation of genuine, biblical Christianity.

James M. Boice articulated this well when he wrote:

There is a fatal defect in the life of Christ’s church in the twentieth century: a lack of true discipleship. Discipleship means forsaking everything to follow Christ. But for many of today’s supposed Christians—perhaps the majority—it is the case that while there is much talk about Christ and even much furious activity, there is actually very little following of Christ Himself. And that means in some circles there is very little genuine Christianity. Many who fervently call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ are not Christians (Matthew 7:21)...There are several reasons that the situation I have described is common in today’s church. The first is a defective theology that has crept over us like a deadening fog. This theology separates faith from discipleship and grace from obedience. It teaches that Jesus can be received as one’s Savior without being received as one’s Lord...Discipleship in not a supposed second step in Christianity, as if one first became a believer in Jesus and then, if he chooses, a disciple. From the beginning, discipleship is involved in what it means to be a Christian....Is ‘faith’ minus commitment a true biblical faith?...If faith without works is dead—how much truer is it that faith without commitment is dead...True faith involves these elements: knowledge...heart response...and commitment, without which ‘faith’ is no different from the assent of the demons who ‘believe...and shudder’ (James 2:19) (James Montgomery Boice, Christ’s Call to Discipleship (Chicago: Moody, 1986), pp. 13, 14, 16, 21).

The Word of God teaches us that Christianity is discipleship, a learning and following the precepts and practices of our Lord Jesus Christ.  May we apply the great desire of the Psalmist who wrote in Psalm 119:34-38:

34 Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law And keep it with all my heart. 35 Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. 36 Incline my heart to Your testimonies And not to dishonest gain. 37 Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways. 38 Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.

Blessings!

Ed