Disciple or Convert?

When it comes to your faith, are you a disciple or a convert? You may wonder, “what’s the difference?” There is a difference of night and day. A convert is happy just coming to a Sunday Morning service. A convert may pray before a meal. A convert owns a Bible or two. A convert is someone who has found “religion”. Every religion has converts. You can be converted to and from anything, Muslim, Buddhist, Catholic, Baptist, even Atheists. It simply means you have been converted to an affiliation. You now identify yourself as part of the group.

This is so different from being a disciple. Jesus never called ‘converts’. He never said to go and make converts. He never told anyone to come be His convert. He told them to be His disciples. A disciple is someone who studies under the Master, who learns His trade, His style, learns to be like Him. A convert follows rules and traditions, but a disciple follows the Master.

In your walk, in your life, how are you behaving? Are you following the rules, the traditions, going through the motions? Are you doing the same things you’ve always done, because you have always done it? That is how the Pharisees lived, they valued the tradition and the ritual. They were converted to the Jewish religion, but missed the most important relationship. The promised Messiah came and stood in front of them, but they were so clouded by their tradition, their religion, the missed Him. We see it happen today, in the modern church. Folks come in, sit though a worship service, get in their cars and go home, ever meeting the Master, never becoming a disciple.

So which are you? Who do you follow? Are you following someone who talks about Jesus, or do you follow Jesus? Do you follow tradition, or the teachings of men, or the words of our Lord and Savior? In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus told us: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

The keys to becoming a disciple are all about the Master. Reading the word, spending time in Bible study. Going to Him and seeking Him in prayer and meditation of the Word. It’s being about the business of the Master, sharing the Gospel, helping the hurting, supporting your brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s about Worship, which in its purest form is emulation of your Master. So, when it comes to your faith, are you a convert, or a disciple?