◄ What Does John 8:31 Mean? ►

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

John 8:31(NASB)

Verse of the Day

The Lord Jesus had the words of eternal life, for He was the Light of the world, the Messiah of the Jews, and the Saviour of mankind Who had come into the world to save sinners from their sins. But many of Israel's religious leaders were blind to His saving light, deaf to His comforting words, and sought to trap Him at every point. However, there were certain of these Jews who did believe the words of the Lord Jesus; that all who believe on the only begotten Son of God are saved by grace through faith in Him and are given the gift of eternal life.

But like believers in Christ today, the Jews who believed in Him had a choice. They could: 1) Choose to learn of the Lord Jesus and become His true disciples so that they would grow in grace and become spiritually mature. 2) They could remain in spiritual infancy, born again but not growing.

Discipleship is not the automatic condition of all Christians, because the disciple is a man or woman who holds to Christ's teachings. A disciple is the person who learns of Christ, the one that one follows Him, the one that keeps His Word, and takes up his cross daily and follows Him.

As believers in Christ, we are eternally saved and our POSITION in Christ is secure. However, we have a choice as to our CONDITION in Christ. We can remain babes in the faith, or we can learn of Him and become His disciple, for Jesus Himself said to all who believe in Him: "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples."

As the writer of Hebrews warns, if we choose to only feed on the milk of the Word, we remain an infant, unacquainted with the Word of righteousness. Oh, we are saved, wonderfully saved, eternally saved, praise God. But we also have a responsibility to grow and mature as we feed on the meat of the Word, deepening our knowledge and understanding of Christ, and spending our lives loving the brethren, caring for our neighbours, and sharing abroad the wonderful gospel of Christ, all to the glory of God.

My Prayer

Loving Heavenly Father, thank You that I have been born into Your family and have become Your child. Lord, I want to grow in grace and in a knowledge of You. Help me to dig deep into Your Word every day and hold fast to the truths I find so that I may really be Your disciple. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.