1 Corinthians 12:6

and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

Jesus is God, teacher, Lord, King, Savior, friend, great physician and our big brother in the family of God. As humans it seems that we can only identify with one aspect of His character at a time. In human terms He is what we need at any particular moment, quite possibly Savior more than the others. In truth He never gives up being all that He is just because we need Him to be that identity in the moment.

We might pray to the great physician only to discover the teacher shows up. That is not a denial of our prayer but indicates what our Lord needs us to understand the deeper meaning of this life in Christ. He gives us what we need even if we do not know what it is we need at the moment.

The title of chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians is “Spiritual Gifts”. Since the same spirit abides in each of us, allow me to remind us all that the Holy Spirit is the power of God to act in any manner, with any spiritual gift, according to the will of the Father.

My youngest daughter was reluctant to go on a missionary trip to Jamaica and called me from  the Miami airport begging to come home. I denied her and told her to follow through on her commitment. When I hung up I prayed to God, “Show yourself strong in her.” During that trip she laid hands on a cripple and the woman was healed. If God can do that with the reluctant, imagine what He can do with a faithful and obedient servant.

The larger picture here is not about how we see Jesus but rather how we see ourselves. How we feel about ourselves often limits our ability to live. Now it becomes what we can and cannot do and not so much about what God can do through us. For some of us we are having an identity crisis because we think we need to be something to be useful to God. Once again I am reminded of a blessed elder from my past that said, “Let go and let God.”

That sentiment was voiced by those who made excuses why they could not follow Jesus in the moment they were called. They had more pressing matters in their lives.

Numbers 18:29

Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the Lord; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’

We owe Him our best.

John 13:35

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia says this about disciples. “In all cases it implies that the person not only accepts the views of the teacher, but that he is also in practice an adherent. The word has several applications. In the widest sense it refers to those who accept the teachings of anyone, not only in belief but in life.”

That is what it means in the broadest terms but what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus.

Luke 14:27

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:33

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

John 8:31

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

John 15:8

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

In reviewing the above definition we will see the words “in practice an adherent”. That word adherent reminds us of glue. Wherever He goes we go, where we go He goes. We cannot escape His abiding presence. There is one more descriptor I left out.

John 13:35

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

The disciples of Jesus Christ are defined by love more than any other principle. It is not enough to study and believe, we must enact the life that abides in us and allow love to rule our every thought and desire. We will not bear fruit without it.

Do we consider ourselves a student or an adherent? It is after all just the difference between life and living.