Have you ever wondered what it means to be a disciple of Christ?

The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) tells us to go make disciples. But what exactly is a disciple? I asked myself that recently and went on a quest to find out. Turns out if you search the Bible for the phrase “my disciple” you get some amazing results.

Here are four characteristics of a disciple along with some questions to ponder.

Bear Much Fruit

John 15:4,8 (NIV)
⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Do people look at your life and want to pick your fruit?

That question sounds kind of like the start of a lame pick-up line, but it’s valid here. ;)

Would people want to eat the fruit of encouragement they see from your life? Would they see how you’re slow to speak and quick to listen and want that fruit in their life?

Or would they take a bite from the fruit of your life (e.g., pride, selfishness) and want to spit it out immediately?

Love One Another

John 13:34-35 (NIV)
³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Have you been demonstrating the love of Christ to the co-worker who annoys the crap out of you? Are you cussing people out, flipping them the bird when they piss you off on the road?

Remain Faithful to Jesus’ Teachings

John 8:31 (NLT)
³¹ Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.

Being “faithful to my teachings” means put it into practice. Consistently.

James 1:22 (NIV)
²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Can you honestly say the Word of God regularly impacts your life? Or that you even read the Bible regularly, let alone have it consistently affect your actions?

Are you quick to obey Jesus’ teachings? Even when it’s uncomfortable and seemingly not beneficial to you?

Follow Jesus

Luke 9:23 (NIV)
²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

Following Jesus is not a casual decision (cf. Luke 14:25-35).

Are you willing to leave behind and give up everything in pursuit of Jesus? Even your spouse, your family or your own personal success?

So, Are You a Disciple?

These four characteristics really gave me some tangible things to think about. Do I demonstrate these characteristics in my life?

I hope they did the same for you.

What do you think about this list? Anything missing? What’s it mean for you to be called a disciple?

Here’s a little snippet I got in an email last week.

I realized last year that I spend tons of time researching dev [tech] related things on the web, yet I don’t spend anytime using it to learn about the Bible, Jesus, etc.

Ouch. Zing. *hangs head in shame*

I know that’s me.

What’s even more embarrassing is that last Thanksgiving (or was it the one before last?) I was most thankful for the Internet because of how much it’s enriched my life through the wealth of information instantly available.

True story. ;)

But 95% of my Internet usage is not for spiritual growth. It’s more for growth in other areas I’m interested in (writing, technology, personal development, etc.).

When you look at your time spent online, could that also be you?

How much time do you spend checking Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest compared to searching for spiritual content that will challenge you to grow, develop and become more like Jesus?

The truth is content on the Internet is overwhelming. Which is why I’m extremely excited about the launch of Grace Letter.

It’s a weekly newsletter that links to the best spiritual articles, videos and stories across the web – delivered straight to your inbox! It does all the hard work of sifting through the web’s noise and shares only the stuff worth checking out.

I highly recommend you subscribe.

Grace Letter is run by Kale Davis (the guy who sent me the email I quoted above). He’ll be the one scouring the web for spiritual gems to pass along and has a proven track record for delivering high quality links in the tech-newsletter he also manages (which I happily subscribe to).

His other newsletter is definitely the one I read the most regularly and get the most out of.

So I’m super confident Grace Letter will be of the same caliber.

</end Grace Letter plug> :)

Where do you go online to find spiritually yummy food? What are some blogs, pastors, podcasts, Christian authors you read regularly?

Maybe some of your suggestions will make it into an issue of Grace Letter!

If we want to see victory in our lives, we have to engage in regular wrestling matches. But oftentimes, we fall short of victory. How many times have you given up? Things got a little too tough for you to endure, and you walked away?

How can we experience victory and the work of God in our lives more often, and give up less often?

Read the rest of my guest post on baaaaa.com: Winning.