The 0.6% Disciple

‘Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ‘
Matthew 16:24-25

A 7-day week is 168 hours long.

When I think about following Christ, I remember being a part-time follower for many years. I’d show up to church on Sunday and live how I wanted the rest of the time. I might have muttered a prayer before bed, but in reality, my faith was confined to that single hour in a church pew each week.

When I look at the math, the time I tried to get to know Jesus. I may have spent about 1 hour out of the 168 hours in a week (when I went to church) being a Christ follower. That’s 0.6%.

99.4% of the time I was doing my own thing.

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in Heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘ Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘’ never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ ‘
Matthew 7:21-23 https://www.bible.com/bible/116/MAT.7.21-23.NLT

I never prophesied or worked miracles in Jesus’ name, so the best I could have said would have been something like, ‘ Lord! Lord! I spent 0.6% of my time a week looking for you.’

I might have heard the words “I never knew you.” And he would have been right. Not everyone will make it to Heaven. But the good news is that God’s grace is always available to us. Even if we have fallen short in the past, we can choose to grow closer to Him now. God invites us to draw near, and He promises to meet us with forgiveness and love as we seek Him more each day.

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow, nd the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. ‘
Matthew 7:13-14

To be a true disciple of Christ is a choice.

Giving up our own way of life- that’s a daily call to action. Choosing to spend time studying God’s word and praying is a commitment; it requires more than 0.6% of our time. One habit that’s helped me is starting each day with prayer, Bible study, and journaling. The Bible App has a verse of the day, which would be a great way to get started. I like reading that in different translations; today’s verse is Matthew 5:9.