What does a mature Christian (Disciple) look like?1
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| A disciple of Christ is a person whose common daily yearning
is to do the will of God. The disciple of Christ goes out of
their way to arrange their schedule to accommodate a close
relationship with God. This includes making time for spiritual
practices individually and corporately on a regular basis.
Thought life is intentionally exercised to cultivate a
continuous awareness of the active presence of God. This person
makes intentional efforts to be warm and kind towards fiends and
strangers alike, is not self absorbed, is not a worrier, is not
a fearful or pessimistic person, and can be genuinely happy when
something good happens to someone else, but not them. There are
tears, yes, and weeping, but it is over one's own sin or that of
others, or the tragedies that are common to us all. It's the
disciple's hope that the tears do not come as a result of
selfishness, whining, or complaining. |
| This person is a spiritual person, demonstrating
abilities such as "being able to motivate oneself and
persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and
delay gratification; to regulate one's moods and keep distress
from swamping the ability to think; to empathize with others and
to hope.2 |
| This person relaxes in the approval of God and
doesn't busy himself/herself trying to look good for others. He
or she does not gossip (even in the form of a prayer request for
others), is tolerant of other's taste, and smiles and laughs
often, but shares others pain empathetically, and expresses
their own pain quietly. This person is never in a hurry.
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| What enables the disciple to live in this manner
is a genuine faith that has been deepened through hardships, and
broadened by the tests of doubts and by the dull grind of
enduring long periods of spiritual flatness. Suffering is known
to the mature disciple, and is increasingly accepted (or even
embraced) as a means of growing in faith and love.
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| In the disciple's community of faith supernatural
events are anticipated and sometimes experienced - sick people
are healed when the elders pray, prophetic words are given in
the church, miraculous answers to prayer occur, and corrupted
individuals are evangelized - baptized - and radically
transformed. Those who have gained financially through deception
or outright stealing make restitution. Addicts are able to
forsake their addictions and lead a righteous life. The angry
person becomes gentle, the lustful person craves purity, the
covetous person becomes generous. These transformations are
real, they are lasting, and they are noticed and attested to
even by unbelievers. |
| Confession and forgiveness are the norm amongst
the members of the body. Conflicts and differences of opinion
are worked through with a spirit of grace and a passion to
defend the unity of the body. Members edify one another through
songs, hymns and spiritual songs, and through the reading and
teaching and preaching of the Word. Wherever and whenever there
are material needs in the body, or the community, the believers
generously share out of their possessions, time, and talents. |
| The deepest yearning of the Christian's life is
to know God and to love him forever with all of his heart, soul,
mind and strength; and secondly to love his neighbor as himself.
He cries out with the psalmist: "Whom have I in heaven
but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh
and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and
my portion forever". |
1 This statement is not meant to be an exhaustive
treatment of what is or is not a disciple of Christ, it is a
succinct assertion of the predominant teachings of what is to
characterize a mature believer's life. This is not meant to
heave guilt on anyone in process who does not possess all the
above in their life - all of the time. We aim for this.
2 See discussion in Daniel Goleman's book, Emotional
Intelligence, page 34. |
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