How I am a Disciple

In my Spiritual Formation class we were given an assignment this week to blog about "How I was formed as a disciple of Christ?" Disciple making or becoming a disciple is a key aspect of living a christian life. Much of the New Testament is dedicated to demonstrate to us how t make a disciple, but more importantly how to become one. I can honestly say that I became a Christian when i was young, but i am still trying to be a disciple of Christ.

In my life there were two distinct people who helped me focus my life and taught me to be a disciple. The first one has been my best friend since third grade. He lived a life different from everyone else. Through the way he lived, talked, and interacted with others set an example for me to follow. He didn't lead me to Christ, but he certainly lead me to an eagerness to change my life to following God on a more committed level. The second person is my youth pastor, mentor, and friend. He has been there teaching me, guiding me, and challenging me for the past five years. He has helped me grow and has truly demonstrated and taught to me what a disciple of Christ loos like and is. These two people are the reasons for my life being a life of a disciple.

I learned about the Bible and the Resurrection and my sin and all the doctrine throughout my life, but none of it mattered until the past five or six years when I started to live as a disciple. There is a distinction between learning the theology and living it. It is now real to me, my need to confess my sin and praise God for His sacrifice. Once my life changed I felt God calling me into the ministry. This was a schock because I knew nothing about the Bible, but I did know that God is always with me and never does anything without a purpose. With that in mind and through a lot of prayer I followed Gods call for my life. I did so because being a disciple requires sacrifice and suffering, so even though I was scared and confused, I had to follow God, I had to go out of my comfort zone to do His work and bring Him glory as a disciple of Christ.

Now five years after turning my life over fully to God, I can honestly say I am fully committed to being a disciple of Christ. The final push for me has been disciplining a group of high school guys over the past couple of years. Seeing the growth in those kids ultimately impacted me in learning what a disciple of Christ was about. That is discipling others leading them to Christ and continuously growing them in bringing all the glory to the one true God.

In His Name,

David Mann