June 2025 Revealing Light Newsletter

There are times when I’ve noticed, the words I say, the things I think are simply flowing from whoever I’ve been following the most lately. I've then been asking myself, “am I becoming a disciple of this person (or group) more than to Jesus Himself?” We start to notice it when we are saying the same things they say, think the same ways they think, know the same verses they know, and look to them as the final authority for interpreting God’s Word (“what they say goes”). Looking back, I realize the years I had become a disciple of a Genesis group, or a group on Evangelism, or a disciple of specific Biblical scholars (or commentaries), or a disciple of specific famous people or pastors, or even a disciple of specific church members. The words we say, the ways we think, became a copy of them as our main source for our faith.  At times, I realized I spent more time studying them than I spent studying Jesus Himself.

Thankfully, one of the times I became aware of this is when I had the chance to be with someone for a week who just simply lived and breathed the Word of God [Acts 17:28]. Almost every sentence they said just effortlessly flowed with God’s Word. It’s not that they quoted everything by pointing out what verse it was, it’s just that they had been shaped by God’s Word so much that it had become a part of them, it permeated their speech and thoughts. God’s Word was being applied in their life, shaping them in every way. I witnessed what it meant to “live and breathe the words of God.” They had become a disciple of Jesus through God’s Word. They had become a living and breathing disciple of Jesus.

We’re thankful for the people in our lives who have helped guide us, who have mentored us, who are discipling us; yet, they are additional helpful instruments in our life, helping us along the way in our primary relationship with Jesus. Together, as the body of Christ, we build each other up as disciples of Jesus. [Read & pray through Ephesians 4:11-16 in the "guided prayer" section below]

So we are left with that reflective question again, “who are a disciple of?” Have you become a disciple of your favorite pastor, author, historical figure, philosopher, psychologist, politician, celebrity, worship leader, friend, mentor, humanitarian organization, religious group, or are you first and primarily a disciple of Jesus?

Again, these are not bad in themselves, other brothers and sisters in Christ are not bad in our life, but it does help to check once in a while to see if we’ve idolized them, and have become a disciple of them more than to Jesus and His Words first.

“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. ...What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
(1 Corinthians 1:10, 12-13)

No, instead, we are united together in Christ our Lord, in One faith, in One baptism, united in the same mind and spirit of God. [Eph 4:5; Phil 1:27; 1 Cor 3:4; Mt 23:10]

As we’re in this series going through the book of Hebrews, we’re continuously reminded that though Moses, Angels, Abraham, and the High Priests shared great messages from God, the message & ministry from God’s own Son, Jesus, is superior to any other message and ministry that the people had received before. We are His disciples, the body of Christ here on earth. Jesus is our Head, who we follow first and foremost -- our Lord and Savior.

- Daryl Struemph