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Have you realised there is a difference between following Jesus and becoming His disciple? Many people seem to think of disciples as only referring to the twelve disciples. But the goal of Jesus is to make disciples from among all the nations (Mt.28:19,20). He said that they would be those who would obey all that He had commanded the first twelve.

People follow Jesus now for various reasons. Many in the days of Jesus followed Him hoping to receive healing, deliverance, provision of food and other things. Some followed Him because they wanted to watch His miracles, and others because they wanted to hear the new things He was talking about. Jesus did miracles because He wanted people to realise who He was, or because He was moved with compassion when He saw their need. He does these things even now. But as it was then, and even now, His main goal with people is to deliver them from sin in their lives and to lead them to eternal life (Jn.6:26,27).

Those who have chosen to follow Jesus now may have, at the same time, chosen to give up other gods, recognising that Jesus is the only way to God (Jn.14:6). But it is not sure that they can consider themselves as His disciples. A disciple has committed himself to his master, in this case, Jesus. The question by which we can find out about our commitment is this: have we committed ourselves to doing 'all' that our Lord tells us to do? Is He our Lord? If we read His teachings, and then pick and choose what we like, what will be comfortable for us, what will not cause any disturbance in our family, work or society, we cannot say we have chosen Him as our Lord and Master. Actually, the fact of the matter is that we are still the lord of our life, and it is our decision that is final. If our decision goes against the commands of Jesus, just too bad? If this is the case, then let us realise that we may be followers, but definitely we have not become His disciples.

There is some controversy about the term some people refer to as 'lordship salvation'. Its emphasis is that those who simply believe in Jesus have not been saved, but only those who have submitted to the authority of the Lord in their lives. How I understand this subject is like this. A man hears the Gospel of salvation from sin, recognises himself as a sinner in God's sight, repents and submits to Him in every part of his life. But those who come for healing, deliverance or solutions for their problems hopefully hear the Gospel subsequently and respond. In some cases, the progress is radical, and for some others, it may be slow. For some people it may never happen that they find Jesus as their Saviour or learn to submit to Him.

Jesus wants, first of all, to save us from our sins (Mt.1:21). For that repentance from sin and faith in the Saviour are crucial. There must also be a total submission to Jesus as our Lord. Let us have that clear in our mind, and not be stuck in any lower level of relationship with Jesus.

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