What does it truly mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Toby Logsdon addresses this question by exploring what it means to follow Jesus. A true disciple is not just someone who physically follows Jesus, but someone who follows Him with their heart. This is because love is the driving force behind obedience to Christ. As Logsdon explains, if someone loves Christ, they will obey Him, and to obey Him means to go wherever He leads, even if that path is not easy.

Logsdon also delves into the significance of trust in this journey, drawing from Psalm 23 to illustrate that discipleship is not a guarantee of ease or comfort. Instead, it is about following Jesus through the 'valley of the shadow of death', trusting Him completely and not leaning on our own understanding. Despite the challenges, the ultimate goal is to become more like Christ, and that requires surrendering our hearts and our lives to Him.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV): 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.'

The way to identify a disciple of Jesus is to see that They are following in the steps of their teacher. If they are obeying Christ, if they love Christ, we would say that Judas was a false disciple because he did not love Christ. He did not follow Christ with his heart. He followed him with his feet, but we have to follow him with more than our feet. He wants our hearts.

And so if somebody loves Christ, they will obey him. That's what he says. If they love Him, they will keep His commands. To truly follow Jesus means you go where He goes. If you think about Psalm 23 where we say the Lord is my shepherd, He leads us through the valley of the shadow of death.

And so that doesn't mean that it's always gonna be easy. It means where he takes us, we go, and we trust wherever he leads us. We trust in the Lord with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding, but trust that in all things, he is working to make us more like him.