“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20
Before Jesus ascended to His Father, He gave His disciples this command: “Go make disciples!” So what exactly is a disciple? A disciple is essentially a student of Jesus! It is someone who believes in Jesus and seeks to follow Him in his or her daily life. The first disciples were the twelve men Jesus first appointed to spread the Good News. (Well, thirteen if you count the bad one.) They knew Jesus, they watched how He lived and learned from Him. They even had their feet washed by Him as He taught them what a servant truly is. Today, a disciple is simply anyone who is committed to Jesus. That’s YOU!
Before any of us can MAKE disciples, we must first BE a disciple. We are called to go do what Jesus did during His earthly life. Sometimes our lives get so full it seems impossible to find time to read our Bibles and pray, let alone feed the hungry and spread the Gospel. Many Christians pack their schedules, then fit Jesus into the small bits of time they have left. But Jesus doesn’t ask us to fit Him in; He asks us to live for Him, and build the rest of our lives around Him! We can’t do that in our own power. We must first invite Jesus to be the Lord of our life, and then we can ask Him to help shape us into useful, powerful, faithful disciples.
Though you can’t see Him face to face, you can still “see” Jesus and learn from Him. You can see Him in the way believers shine His light into the darkest places in the world. You can see Him in nature and the incredibly intricate perfection and renewing all around you. And you can see Him in the hope that brightens the eyes and the hearts of those who learn about Him for the first time. Jesus is always with you! He teaches you through His Word. He teaches you through people who know Him and pour into the lives of others. He connects with you in prayer, knows every detail of your life, and He loves you more that anyone else ever could. Your job is to go and make more disciples. If you don’t, who will? You are loved!