Being a Christian is all about learning from Jesus and putting His love into practice.
Have you ever found yourself wondering, “Okay, how is this whole Christian thing supposed to work?” Whether you've been a Christian for 50 years, or you’re exploring faith for the first time, know this: You’re not the only person thinking about that question, and the answer is less complicated than you might think.
The heart of being a Christian is really all about following Jesus. That means learning how Jesus loved and cared for God and others, and putting that love and care into practice.
So, what does learning from Jesus actually look like? Well, as we see in the first four books of the New Testament, Jesus made it pretty easy. He selected 12 men to be His disciples, and they went everywhere with him.
They traveled with Him, ate with Him, served other people with Him. And a big part of their time with Jesus was also spent learning from his teaching. That’s what the word “disciple” means—it’s a person who follows another for the purpose of learning.
But the 12 disciples weren’t the only people who learned from Jesus during His time on earth. Men and women from the surrounding towns and villages followed Jesus as He traveled, excited to hear His teaching.
Following Jesus Means Living Like Him
For three years, Jesus spent much of His life showing others how to live. But the lessons He taught were pretty simple. Most of them boiled down to two ideas: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.
Everything else Jesus said and everything else He did flowed from those two ideas. What did those two ideas look like, put into practice? For Jesus, they looked like healing the sick. Showing mercy and grace to people who had done wrong. Demonstrating patience with others in frustrating circumstances. Prioritizing time spent in prayer with His Father. And, ultimately, dying on the cross in order to cover our sins and make things right between us and God.
But Jesus didn’t stay dead. Three days after His death, He rose from the grave. And before He ascended into heaven 40 days later, He gave His disciples, the people who had been learning from Him for years, a mission:
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 28:18-20 NIV
The mission Jesus gave His disciples (also known as the Great Commission) was simple: to go and teach others the same things Jesus had taught them. And the Great Commission wasn’t just for the people of that time, who lived 2,000 years ago. The Great Commission is for us, too. It’s everything we’ve been talking about in this video: Learning from Jesus how to show love and care to God and others, and then putting that love and care into practice by sharing it with others.
Practical Ways to Follow Jesus
Now, maybe you’re thinking: All of that sounds great. But I know Jesus wants me to treat others with love and care. And I mess that up. A lot.
You and me both. And every Christian who’s ever lived. We’re never going to be perfect Jesus followers in this life. But there are some things we can do to help ourselves learn from Jesus and put His love into practice. And these things are called spiritual disciplines.
Now, before the word “discipline” scares you off, just hear me out: This doesn’t have anything to do with correction. Think of “discipline” like an academic discipline: a particular subject or teaching.
You’re probably not surprised to find out that the words “discipline” and “disciple” are related. If a disciple is a student, a discipline is the subject they’re learning. Spiritual disciplines are practices we can use that line up with how Jesus lived. Many of them were developed over the course of the last 2,000 years.
As women and men of the past considered the life of Jesus and how they could live more like Him, they created disciplines which followed His example. Some of those disciplines are well-known, like prayer. Others, like silence and solitude, aren’t as well-known.
When we practice spiritual disciplines, they help bring us closer to Jesus and live more like Him. We find it easier and easier to extend love and grace to other people. When faced with a tough situation, we have more wisdom to handle it well. And we increasingly live in the peace and confidence of knowing Jesus is near.
So, being a Christian is all about learning from Jesus and putting his love into practice, and using spiritual disciplines is one way we can get better at both of those things. For the rest of this season, we’re going to look at five different types of spiritual disciplines you can try to grow closer to Jesus: Prayer, Worship, Bible Reading, Spending Time in Community, and Rest.
We’ll talk about how Jesus practiced those disciplines in His own life, some of the ways those practices have developed over time in the church, and ways we can learn from them and practice them now.