A couple months back, a read “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. I didn’t even make it through the foreword before I was hit with something incredibly profound. The book was quoting a Bible verse from Acts, one that I had read on several occasions before:
“The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” Acts 11:26
I realized at that point I had been reading it wrong my whole life. What I had been gleaning from it all along was something more like this: “The disciples called themselves Christians first…” One word added by me, and suddenly the entire principle was lost.
That’s when it hit me. The title, the label, of “Christian” was not intended to be something I gave myself. It was something to given by others. I was called to be a disciple. By living my life as a disciple of Christ, I was to be given the privilege of being called by others a follower of Christ.
It totally makes sense then that the definition of “Christian” is “follower of Christ.”
Therefore, a Christian is a disciple of Jesus Christ. Christian is a descriptive title. A title that was given to those who already were disciples.
Disciple – a follower or student of a teacher, leader, or philosopher. Synonyms: follower, adherent, believer, admirer, devotee, acolyte, votary, etc.
While it may be easy to call ourselves Christians, it isn’t quite so easy to passively claim the title of disciple. By definition, to be a disciple of someone is an active choice to mimic the one you are a disciple of. You can’t decide just for one day you are going to go around and call yourself a disciple. It is something that has to be lived out for more than 24 hours. It is a lifestyle!
What does it take to be a disciple then?
Christianity in its purest form is NOT a religion. It is a relationship with God, a relationship between Father and child, Teacher and student, the Lover and the loved. While we all may not have grown up being exposed to a religion, it’s safe to say we all have been exposed to at least one relationship (be it with family, friends, colleagues, teachers, lovers, etc.). I’m learning that a relationship with God doesn’t or, as in the case below, shouldn’t look all that different from other relationships in my life…
What if I decided Tuesday was Boyfriend Day? I went over to my boyfriend’s house. I sat down in the living room with him. I played him a couple of cute songs that remind me of him. (Colbie Caillat has got some great hits for these moments.) Then, while he sat next to me, I had his parents tell me a little bit about him. Maybe, if I was lucky, he would have some friends over that knew him in a different light than his parents. They could relate some of the late night escapades they had been on together that past weekend. As they were talking, I would check my phone a couple of times, send a text or two, respond to some work emails, etc. I would never look at my boyfriend, never acknowledge his existence. The second the speeches were over, I would gather my things and be out the door. I would go the whole week without talking to my boyfriend. However, when the next Tuesday rolled around, I would be sure to make a point of going back to his house. After all, I wouldn’t want his neighbors to think I wasn’t a dedicated girlfriend.
It seems so silly to think of a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship in this way. Imagine how much more silly it would seem if I redid the analogy with a husband-wife relationship. The silliness then grows exponentially when we regurgitate what we have been told via the scriptures that our relationship with God should be the most intimate relationship we have.
When I got a boyfriend back in college, he became my new major. If I was being honest at the time when people asked me what I was studying, I should have said, “I’m majoring in Boyfriend, with a minor in Finance.” But as much as I studied all about him, who he was, what he liked, as often as I knew exactly where he was and what he was doing, if you asked me if I was a “disciple” of his, I would have laughed. That’s ludicrous! There were still several hours we didn’t spend together. While I knew a hundred things about him, there were still 1000s of things I didn’t know. Unless I was allowed to move in with him and follow him around every second of every day, I would struggle to honestly give myself the title “disciple of Boyfriend.”
Realizing this analogy has changed everything for me. A disciple of Jesus is more than having Him as a friend, a father, a boyfriend, a husband, a lover. He is all those things and yet still so much more. So I’m done putting the title of Christian on myself. (The stigma isn’t all that positive now anyways…but more on that later.) Instead, I’m going to try and live my life as a disciple, as a student, as one who is truly in love with God. Then whether or not I know it, others will start to call me…
A Christian
Calling ourselves Christians is not what makes us disciples. It’s being disciples that have people saying, “They are Christians.” -Me
