Dis - Mantle

by Aaron

I am still riding the wave of Eric's blog posts in regard to discipleship; it is actually one of the reasons I love Eric so much...the fact that He loves the ideal of discipleship as much as he does. So, today, can we just go on a little journey about discipleship?

When you hear the word DISCIPLE you probably think of the standard definition: a great Rock Band from Knoxville Tennessee...but alas this is not the only definition.

For the longest time the word meant a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; follower. Now this is a better definition that hits closer to home. In being disciples of Jesus that means we adhere to His teaching and follow in His footsteps. This takes time and study to see how He saw the world, how He treated people, and most importantly, how He grew in relationship to His Father. We could literally spend all of eternity unpacking what this means.

In John 17:3 Jesus is praying to the Father and even tells us that THIS is what eternal life actually means, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." How different is that from most people's understanding of eternal life? KNOWING GOD.

The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:14-19 said For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, V19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. In verse 19 Paul says that we are to KNOW this love. It is more than an emotion, the love of God is something we as believers are called to "know".

The earliest variant of the English word "disciple" came from two words, dis "apart" AND capere "take"...TAKE APART. Why do we pursue discipleship? Because God will take us apart, rebuild and renew us, and make us into the Children, disciples, and people he wants us to be. Knowing Him, knowing His love, and walking in His truth.