You’ve said it before, haven’t you? Called yourself a disciple. The word rolls off the tongue with such religious comfort. Such spiritual familiarity. But here’s the thing about familiar things – they can fool you.

Let’s be clear. In the first century, being a disciple wasn’t a hobby. It wasn’t a weekend thing. It was everything. You followed your rabbi everywhere, ate with him, traveled with him, watched how he tied his sandals, and how he responded to a beggar on the street. You memorized his words until they became your words. You lived so closely that by the end of the day it was said that the dust kicked up by his sandals covered your robes. That’s because living as a disciple you didn’t just learn from your rabbi. You became him.

I once heard from a professor that there was this old rabbi whose posture was stooped. So what did his followers do? As good disciples they mimicked their rabbi. Walking behind him with their backs bent, they actually reshaped their posture. Because to follow him was to become like him. We can hear this example and write it off as extreme. Come on! You might say. That’s just silly. The mere picture of this sets off an almost visceral reaction inside us. Because we know that’s far from where we are, from how we live. Yet that’s what Jesus was talking about when he spoke about discipleship. 

Jesus’ disciples knew the cost. They knew what following a rabbi meant. That’s why when Jesus called his disciples they left everything. Immediately. Their former way of life would have to end, or at least be put on pause. Their days weren’t scheduled any longer around convenience. There was no fitting their rabbi in. It would be all Jesus, all the time.

The disciples knew they wouldn’t be able to pick and choose which practices of Jesus they’d adopt. His prayer habits? Adopted. Fasting schedule? Adopted. Scripture interpretation? Adopted. These things weren’t optional. If they weren’t willing to mimic every aspect of Jesus’ conduct then they weren’t truly his students. Remember the disciples of the stooped rabbi? That’s how discipleship worked. That’s where you have Peter who sees his rabbi walking on water and does the same. He’s not doing anything extraordinary. He’s just being a disciple.

Similarly, when Jesus taught through questions, his disciples weren’t annoyed. They weren’t thinking, “Just tell us the answer already!” They were being good disciples in learning to think like him, to approach Scripture like him, to see the world through his eyes. That took time. That took proximity. That took abiding.

So would you still call yourself a disciple? Well let’s make it personal. Take a long, hard look at yourself:

Do you orient your entire existence around Jesus? Is your life centered on him?

Does your life emulate his? Are you starting to look more like him?

Would people recognize his teachings in your words? His priorities in your schedule? His character in your reactions?

Are you stooping and bending your life to look like him? Or are you still standing tall, walking your own way, and hoping a little bit of his dust lands on you by accident?

Are you getting out on the water because that’s what he did? Or are you watching him from afar as you stay in the comfort of your own boat, never participating in the new life he offers?

Again the goal of discipleship wasn’t stuffing your head with information. It was about becoming. Becoming completely transformed into who your rabbi was. Jesus himself said it: “Everyone when fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). Not admire him. Not think he had good ideas. Be like him.

Chances are, you don’t measure up to this standard. None of us do. But that’s not cause for despair. It’s cause for honesty. The path forward isn’t complicated, though it is costly. Jesus spells it out bluntly in Luke 14: “count the cost.” He wasn’t recruiting casual fans. He wanted people who knew exactly what they were getting into. Because once you were in, there was no halfway. Sound extreme? That’s exactly the point. So what now?

If you still want to be his disciple then follow the examples of the first century disciples and live with Christ as your all. Make him your everything. Your center. Stop engaging in half measures. Stop having second thoughts. Begin to fill your mind with Jesus. Completely. 24/7. Be with him. Abiding. Following so closely you’re swallowing the dust kicked off his sandals. Are you ready for that? Because that’s what being a disciple means. It means Christ as your all.