The choice

““Every disciple is a believer, but not every believer is necessarily a disciple. Anything short of discipleship, however, is settling for less than what God really desires for us.” – Greg Laurie

Freedom to choose

What if God didn’t give you the freedom to choose? Just imagine, if after you received the incredible free gift to spend eternity in heaven, free from the penalty of spiritual death, that Jesus then demanded you actually follow Him in complete self-denial in order to really receive that free gift of God’s grace. This is not only hard to imagine, it’s not Biblical. Yet many believers today have been taught that following Jesus as His disciple is a mandatory obligation required to prove they truly believe, and to receive that free gift of salvation. Oh, how the simplicity of the Gospel is, for some, a complex concept!

“…the superb simplicity…is lost on many modern Evangelicals. Indeed, they are frightened by it, and they are tempted to evade it by invoking some special definition of saving faith. In the process, they cloud beyond hope the Biblical definition of faith and tragically distort the Biblical message of grace. In fact, in a very real sense, they are trying to do God’s work for Him. Whenever we do that, it is a serious mistake and most often it is also disastrous.” – Writer and scholar Zane Hodges, Grace in Focus, Sept/Oct 2025 issue

When we make saving faith (i.e. belief) dependent on subsequent discipleship, we indeed are trying to do God’s work for Him! This certainly does not comport with the God of scripture that created human beings with free agency. The Creator designed you and me with the freedom to choose as being quintessential for a life-altering faith that responds willingly to His inexhaustible love, not by fear or coercion.

Furthermore, the Bible indicates throughout the New Testament letters that not all believers had responded to an inner call of Jesus to take on this special relationship, but many were still genuine believers. In fact, we know this to be true because virtually all of the New Testament letters were written to and for believers, encouraging them in their faith, urging them to follow Jesus into the transforming inner-life change of discipleship. The writers were in reality revealing God’s heart for His people throughout the ages, to freely choose a relationship of discipleship, not to be coerced into religious obligation.

Choosing to follow Jesus into discipleship is the single-most consequential decision in the life of a believer, this mysterious and transformative relationship that changes you from the inside out, forever. Yet it’s always been presented in Scripture as just that – a choice – for believers. Jesus is recorded as speaking to a crowd in the following passage:

“Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower…’” (emphasis ours) – Mark 8:34 NLT.

In this passage in the original Greek, it’s clear that Jesus presents following Him into discipleship as a choice.

You may be thinking, “that’s all well and good, and it makes sense. But, I’m really not sure where to begin.” We have good news for you! This journey on which you’re about to embark begins with a key. We hope and pray that you’ll read on…

For reflection or discussion:

1. When you hear the word “discipleship” what comes to mind? Does it feel negative or positive to you, and why?
2. In what way is believing in Jesus is distinct from following Him, and why are both so important?
3. Would you like to know more about the difference between believing in Jesus and following Jesus? (The next page will elaborate on this.)

All scriptural references are taken from a variety of Bible translations and paraphrases including The Message Bible (MSG), The New Living Translation (NLT), English Standard Version (ESV), The Voice (Voice), The Passion Translation (TPT), New American Standard Bible (NASB), The Living Bible (TLB), New International Version (NIV). Quotations used from other sources are acknowledged in text. Photos used are taken from a variety of artists mentioned by name.

Photo by Arthur Poulin