What Does a Disciple Look Like?

Have you ever heard someone use the expression, “Garbage in. Garbage out”? Do you know what that means?

Most sayings like this help you understand a truth or a piece of wisdom. When I hear the saying, “Garbage in. Garbage out,” the first thing I think about is what we put in our minds. If we watch movies that aren’t good or read books that don’t agree with the truth of the Bible, we’re not going to be thinking about things that are true, right, pure and lovely (Philippians 4:8). Instead we’re going to be thinking about whatever wrong things those movies and books talk about. And if we think about those wrong things long enough, we’re eventually going to do those wrong things.

Garbage in. Garbage out.

The opposite is true too. When we put good things into our minds and hearts, good things come out of our lives. When we memorize God’s Word, listen to worship music, go to church and learn about Jesus, we start to think like Jesus, we start to sound like Jesus and we start to live like Jesus. People begin to see Jesus in everything we do because we’re following His example. He is what shines through our life.

Paul talks about this in Galatians 5:22-23. But instead of using the garbage expression or the idea of good things, he talks about the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians comes right after Paul’s first and second letter to the Corinthians. Let’s read what he says, together.

Disciples of Jesus follow the example of Jesus. As they grow in faith, they become more like Him, and their lives produce the fruit of the Spirit. This is actually one of the ways we can recognize other disciples of Jesus. The more disciples hang around Jesus, the more they look, sound and act like Him. Instead of being marked by sin, what a disciple of Jesus thinks, says and does is marked by the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control of the Holy Spirit.

No one will ever be perfect on this side of heaven, but every disciple can grow to become more like Jesus every day. Ask Jesus to help you choose to practice the fruit of the Spirit today!