A disciple is someone who is determined to live in/with/like/for Jesus.
IN JESUS
The phrase “in Christ” is repeated often by Paul to describe our new identity and status before God.
Jesus is God’s perfect Son, and by entrusting ourselves to Him, everything that is true about Him becomes true about us.
His death becomes ours, His resurrection becomes ours, His victorious reign becomes ours, and God sees us in Jesus, and Jesus in us.
We are united in Christ, a covenant bond that makes us one, and God accepts us completely as He does Jesus.
We are forgiven, set free, and fully restored to God’s family, just like Jesus… because we are in Him.
WITH JESUS
This is a personal relationship, we are in fellowship with Him.
We walk with him, we talk with Him, we watch Him and learn from Him.
Of course we do this in a spiritual way because He is not physically with us.
But it is a very real relationship, we are never alone, He is with us always to the very end of the age.
We know Him, He knows us, together we know God and are known by Him… this is eternal life, to know and be known.
To have a close, personal, interactive, conversational relationship with God through Jesus!
LIKE JESUS
Jesus is God’s perfect Son, He models for us perfectly the “Adam” life we were made to live.
As we observe Him, we see who we were made to be.
Jesus not only teaches us how to live, He models it, and with the help of His Spirit we are enabled to live it.
Our passion, our desire, as those who live in/with Christ, is to live like Jesus, for the glory of God.
This not an optional extra after salvation, it is an essential part of the salvation life.
FOR JESUS
We were saved from self-centered living, liberated to live the selfless, God and neighbour loving life of Jesus.
Our focus is not ourselves, our focus is Jesus, who is the fullness of God and Humanity.
We live for Him Who lived for us, we offer ourselves for Him Who offered Himself for us.
Our priorities have changed, we do not live for selfish pleasure or worldly treasure, we live for Jesus, and when we do we are living for God and Humanity!
This is abundant life, the eternal life (or life to the full) that we were created for, saved for.
Anything less than living in/with/like/for Jesus will leave us empty, miserable, hopeless.
I love that song that I learned when I was in the Cadet program growing up, “Living for Jesus”.
But if I could write it, and get the words to match the music, I would prefer to sing “Living in/with/like/for Jesus!”
This is the desire of a disciple of Jesus.
Is this your desire?