Being a Disciple

Acts 9:10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”

The term disciple is defined as “one who learns from his master”. A disciple is much more than a believer who believes or trusts his master or a follower who may bluntly follow. But a disciple learns skills and is educated and wants to become as successful and talented as his master. A disciple is different from a believer who has the right to become sons of God. But a disciple is different who follows Jesus with intentions to learn from Him. All believers are not disciples as they might live their life but just believe in Jesus as per Luke 14:26,27. All disciples are not believers as Judas did not trust in Jesus but was a disciple as per John 12:4.

All believers have the assurance of heaven as per many verses like John 3:16. But we should understand from John 8:31,32 that a believer has to become a disciple in order to be freed. According to Mathew 18:18, there will be bound souls in heaven and Mathew 6:19,20 where we can go to heaven without treasures. We have to understand that we can go to heaven but inheriting heaven is another thing as per Mathew 5:3 and 10.

In Chapter 9, we read about three persons who were identified as disciples: Ananias (v 10), Paul (v 26) and Tabitha (v 36). There is another person in Acts 16:1 who is Timothy. This meditation gives us a study on these disciples as the term disciple has changed a lot since the resurrection of Christ. Before that, there was a disciple who wanted to go bury his father in Mathew 8:21 and Judas Iscariot was called a disciple in John 12:4. But after the Holy Spirit was given, these four men had displayed wonderful signs in their lives so that they are named as disciples.

Looking at Ananias, we learn that he responded “Here I am, Lord” which shows how available he was to Christ. The Greek original says “Behold me, Lord” which shows a disciple who in his sub-consciousness is eager that the master might use him. We can see this term in 1 Samuel 3 where Samuel would omit the word “Lord” when responding to God but when he addresses Eli, who he sees as his boss, he would say “Here I am”. Ananias is the only person we read in the New Testament who uses this term.

When Paul refers to Ananias in Acts 22:12, he mentions that Ananias is a devout man according to the law and had very good reputation among Jews who were against Christ. Paul uses this quality as a defense in his trail in Acts 22. In Verse 14 we see Ananias who is a good Jew also using his faith in elevating Jesus. This is a true student’s attitude in loving his new faith through all his knowledge. When Jesus answers Ananias about his doubt on Paul’s conversion, Jesus does not mention that Paul is a good convert now, but He mentions His plans about Paul and that excites Ananias who when immediately and baptized Paul.

In verse 26, we read Saul (Paul)’s enthusiasm in showing off his new faith amount Hellenists. This was not useful to the Church but we should understand How Paul has received the gospel. In short we read about Paul’s thirst in Philippians 3:10 where Paul wants to share in Christ’s sufferings and even death so that he could live.

Verse 36 speaks about Tabitha who was full of good works and charity. This is a sign of a disciple who learns from the Lord. Being full of a good works explains that she wanted to share at every given opportunity. We read in the following verses that widows were showing Peter clothes which the woman had made with them. This shows that she was teaching widows skills for them to learn. This person wanted to be useful and that’s why the other disciples after she died came and prayed that she might live now. We do not often see such useful people in our congregation now.

In Acts 16:1, we read about Timothy who was a disciple and had good reputation among the brothers in Lystra and Iconium. That’s why Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him. We also read that despite Paul’s strong teaching and understanding about circumcision not being mandatory, we still have timothy circumcised because it was easy to speak with Jews that way. A disciple is willing to lose anything for his principles.

When Jesus gave the great commission in Mathew 28:19,20, we see that Jesus wants us to make others as disciples. This is in-line with Acts 1:8 where we live as testimonies. This means that our life should influence others to come to Jesus for learning not salvation alone. Let us understand that a disciple is not a complete person, but a person who is willing to submit himself to learn life from Christ.

Amen.