“Too many people consider Jesus Christ a ‘convenience.’ We make Him a lifeboat to get us to shore, a guide to find us when we are lost. We reduce Him simply to a Big Friend to help us when we are in trouble. That is not biblical Christianity!
Jesus Christ is Lord, and when a man is willing to do His will, he is repenting and the truth flashes in. For the first time in his life, he finds himself willing to say, ‘I will do the will of the Lord, even if I die for it!’
Illumination will begin in his heart. That is repentance—for he has been following his own will and now decides to do the will of God.
Before the Word of God can mean anything inside of me there must be obedience to the Word. Truth will not give itself to a rebel. Truth will not impart life to a man who will not obey the light. If you are disobeying Jesus Christ you cannot expect to be enlightened spiritually.
No man can know the Son except the Father tell him. No man can know the Father except the Son reveal Him. I can know about God: that is the body of truth. But I cannot know God, the soul of truth, unless I am ready to be obedient.
True discipleship is obeying Jesus Christ and learning of Him and following Him and doing what He tells you to do, keeping His commandments and carry out His will.
That kind of a person is a Christian—and no other kind is!” ~A. W. Tozer, “Do I Know Jesus”
Spiritual enlightenment begins with discipleship. No one will rise and mature in the Lord if they are negligent in following him. If Jesus has not become the central focus of your life, you might want to ask yourself how closely are you really following him then? The most earnest disciple would be at his feet daily, looking to learn from the Master, to follow the Master, to obey the Master. If we desire to be his disciples, we must come to Scripture and read Jesus’ words and learn his teachings and then obey him. He cannot be a convenience that we intermittently recognize and appreciate when it fits with our lives. He cannot be the Lord we look toward only when we are sinking and need help. That sort of self-serving motivation is not discipleship but a form of passive extortion. A faith that has not determined to obey him is most likely a faith that does not bring salvation! I would dare say it true that one can have real faith without the inclination in their heart to submit their will to their Master. For such that do not yield themselves, it is impossible to call him “Lord.” But when we bring our eyes to gaze upon him and to hold his words in our hands as though they were the most precious possession we have and following his commands, we can begin to say we are his disciples (Jn 8:31-32). If we treat the path of discipleship like water in the desert, like shelter from the storm, or like a map in a foreign land, how can we not do everything in our power to be true to his words?
But oh how easily we are encumbered by pride, self-want, pleasures, and comforts! Many would probably agree if the question was about whether someone was committing a grievous transgression. They would say, “That person is surely not a disciple of the Lord due to their obvious sin.” But many would presume to overlook the more subtle disobedience that is so much more infectious. How easy is it to overlook a small scrape on the skin only to let the germs fester and enter the blood. So it is with smaller infractions of disobedience. Does the Lord judge differently between one who lies and one who deceives? Between one who judges and one who harasses? Between one who fights and one who neglects? Nay, such disobedience finds the same root in unrighteousness. The real disciple must recognize the universal failure of themselves and everyone—great and small—and realize the only thing that matters is coming to lay it all down at the feet of Jesus and seeing obedience as the only way of following the One who is the truth, the life, and the way! ~JW
Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.
