Are you a true disciple of Christ?

What qualifies or disqualifies us to be a disciple of Christ, what gives us entry or shuts the door to God's kingdom, what makes us a child of God or a child of the devil? Let’s dive in and find out.

KC George

May 15, 2025

Table of Contents

We meditate on the Scriptures, we pray, we fast, we worship and do several other things to make progress in our walk with God. However, do we know if any of these qualify us to be a true disciple of Christ? While doing good to others, delivering people from demonic oppression, healing others, pastoring a church are all very important and must be done, do any of these qualify us to be a true disciple of Christ? While many things are beneficial, useful and can help us make progress in our walk God, there is a factor that qualifies us. What qualifies or disqualifies us to be a disciple of Christ, what gives us entry or shuts the door to God's kingdom, what makes us a child of God or a child of the devil? Let’s dive in and find out.

Be focused on the goal

It's important to distinguish between achieving a goal and the means to achieving the goal in our walk with God. The goal is what we aim to achieve, while means are the methods or actions we carry out to reach the goal. The goal represents the desired outcome, whereas means are the path or methods employed to get there.

Body builder

For instance, going to the gym, performing push-ups, squats, lunges, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, and other weightlifting exercises are all ways to reach the aim of bodybuilding. A gym membership does not guarantee that a person will become a bodybuilder. One must have at least one or a few well-developed muscles before he can call himself a bodybuilder. If a person's muscles are not properly developed after five years of attending to the gym, he is not a bodybuilder. Participating in the means is not the same as achieving the goal.

In our journey to become a disciple of Lord Jesus, we have a single goal and there are several means to achieve it. Participating in the means does not make us a disciple; achieving the goal does. If we do not achieve the goal, we are disqualified and can't call ourselves a disciple. Even if we have been going to church for a few decades, reading the Bible everyday for several years, praying in tongues every day, and even prophesying and carrying out miracles, if we do not achieve the goal, we are not a disciple.

Qualify to be a disciple

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 defines for us what disqualifies us to enter God's kingdom and become his disciple. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God” Being dominated by our sinful nature and the resulting ungodly character disqualifies us to enter God's kingdom.

To qualify to be a true disciple of Christ, we must overcome our sinful nature and be established in the divine nature of Christ with the evidence of godly character. Then God and us have the very same nature. Sharing in the nature of God helps us to be united with God in one heart, one mind and one will. Christ being formed within us is the goal of our walk with God. Denying our sinful nature and being established in the divine nature of Christ with the evidence of godly character is the purpose of our salvation. Being transformed into the likeness of Christ with the evidence of having the fruit of the Holy Spirit is the factor that qualifies us to be his disciples.

While reading the Bible helps us to know God and grow in him, after reading the Bible cover to cover a few times, if Christ is not formed within us, all our Bible reading has been just puffing up our knowledge without any true benefit. While fasting and praying is a powerful tool to overcome our flesh and become spiritual, after completing several cycles of 30 days fasting, if we are unable to deny ourselves and are not established in the divine nature of Christ, our fasting has been a futile exercise.

To qualify, we must overcome our sinful nature and be established in the divine nature of Christ, with the evidence of godly character

While worship helps us to get closer to God, after spending hours or days in worship, if we continue to live in sexual immorality, adultery, slander, swindling and have not established ourselves in the divine nature of Christ, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. While going to church and having fellowship with other believers is useful, if we continue to live in pride, rebellion, independence, selfishness, and self centeredness and if the nature of Christ is not formed within us, we are just like someone who has been going to a gym for 5 years and did not develop a single muscle.

While it is awesome to deliver accurate prophecies, perform miracles or cast out demons, if Christ doesn't live in us and if we do not live in obedience to the will of the Father, we will not enter God's kingdom as the Bible declares in Matthew 7:21-23. While it's admirable to preach the gospel to the unreached and making the gospel available to them is a great service, if we get disqualified for the prize, as apostle Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 9:27, how useful would it be?

Be willing to deny self

We read in Matthew 17:24, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it”

If we are unwilling to deny ourselves and be powered by the divine nature of Christ, we are in fact rejecting Christ and his very nature. If we hold on to everything we want to achieve in life, and keep pursuing our ambitions and plans, we are rejecting the plans of Christ for us. If we hold on to our self life, we are rejecting the life of Christ within us. If we hold on to our own thoughts and emotions, we are rejecting the mind of Christ and the new heart he has deposited within us.

If we want to pursue our own desires in this world, we will lose all the privileges Christ offers and his kingdom. However, if we are willing to give up our ambitions, goals and dreams and deny ourselves we can be established in the divine nature of Christ, be a true disciple of Christ and enter God's kingdom.

Unconditional love

There isn't something called the unconditional love of God. God’s love is conditional, discipleship is conditional and entering God's kingdom is conditional

It indeed feels good to hear the phrase “unconditional love” of God; however this phrase is not found in authentic translations of the Bible, nor does this concept exist in God's kingdom. While God's love is selfless and he does everything keeping our ultimate good in mind, it has a condition. We must belong to God to receive his love. If we are powered by the divine nature of Christ, we are a child of God. If we are powered by the sinful nature, we are a child of the devil. If we reject Christ and his divine nature during this lifetime, he will reject us on the day of judgment.

As per Matthew 13: 36-43, either we are wheat or tare. If we are tares, we will be gathered up, bound in bundles and burned up; but if we are wheat, we will be gathered into the barn of Christ. 1 John 3:12 says Cain belonged to the devil and Abel was righteous. Either we belong to the devil or we belong to Christ and are righteous.

There isn't something called the unconditional love of God. God’s love is conditional, discipleship is conditional and entering God's kingdom is conditional. Being dominated by our sinful nature disqualifies us; being powered by the divine nature of Christ qualifies us.

Discipleship Checklist

While being powered by the divine nature of Christ is the only qualifying factor to be a true disciple, the Bible provides us a few observable evidence of this nature as qualifying conditions. We will inherently fulfil all these conditions if we are powered by the divine nature of Christ. If we do not fulfil these conditions, it implies that we are not powered by the divine nature of Christ and hence not qualified to be a disciple of Christ. Let's use this biblical discipleship checklist to evaluate ourselves and check if we qualify or not.

Do I obey God?

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:21-23.

When we are powered by the divine nature of Christ, since we are in the very nature of God, it will be a joy for us to obey the will of the father. We would gladly live in the city God has placed us even though we may prefer to live in another. We would carry out the job/ ministry/ business God has entrusted us instead of pursuing the job of our interest. We would marry the one God has chosen for us even if we may like someone else better. In different aspects of my life do I obey God? Do I do things because they help me achieve my goals, or do I do them because God requires me to?

Place of living: Am I living in my current city because I prefer to stay there or did I relocate there because God asked me to?
Work: Am I doing the job/business/ministry God has entrusted me to do or did I find my current job/business/ministry by myself?
Spouse: Did I marry the one I (or a loved one) liked or did I marry the one God has chosen for me?

On that day, why would Lord Jesus reject me by saying ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoer”? It's not just because I was disobedient, but because I rejected his divine nature and chose to live in my sinful nature. Kingdom of God is a place reserved exclusively for those who operate in the divine nature of Christ. If I am disobedient to the father, it is because I have been operating in the sinful nature and this disqualifies me.

Am I Christlike?

“Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.

When we overcome our sinful nature and embrace the divine nature of Christ, while it may take some time to completely come out of bondage to lust and sin, we will eventually overcome these sins. As the divine nature of Christ gets firmly established in us, we will naturally exhibit his holy nature. Slowly and steadily, we will begin to reflect his character. As we read in Matthew 12:35, a good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. The “good” that is stored up in us is the divine nature of Christ. If we are powered by the good divine nature of Christ, it will bring out good things out of us.

The divine nature of Christ will naturally bring out godly virtues out of us like humility, long suffering (ability to put up with other’s weaknesses for a prolonged period of time), true love, self control etc. If we haven’t denied ourselves, we will continue to exhibit evil characteristics like pride, selfishness, independence etc. Do I exhibit the characteristics of Christ naturally? For example,

Humility: Do I treat people from all walks of life with respect and not look down upon them? Do I value others above myself?
Long Suffering: Do I naturally bear with other's weaknesses for long periods of time or do I get impatient with them in 10 minutes?
Love: Am I selfless in my love and do things solely for their benefit without expecting anything in return or do I love people keeping selfish benefits in mind?

Do I love anyone more than Christ?

"If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else-your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters-yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple”. Luke 14:26.

The divine nature of Christ, empowers us to give up our inordinate affections toward our loved ones. Over a period of time, Chist will become our deepest longing and greatest desire and for his sake, we are willing to let go of other affections of our lives. Are you holding on to inordinate affections to your loved ones or are you willing to give it up for the sake of Christ? For instance,

Do I value someone in my life so much that for that person’s sake, I am willing to compromise the principles of God?
Am I willing to give up an inordinate affection I feel for someone for the sake of Christ

Do I deny myself?

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me: Matthew 16:24. Denying oneself and carrying the cross here implies our willingness to give up everything we want to do and all the troubles we are willing to bear for Christ. It refers to our willingness to

Give up our plans/ambitions/goals and embrace his plans/ambition/goals for us
Give up our way of thinking to embrace the mind of Christ and his thoughts.
Give up our carnal emotions to operate in the God given emotions like peace, love, joy etc.
Give up our choices in exchange of his choices

The divine nature of Christ, empowers us to give up all of the above. When we are truly empowered by Christ, we can willingly give up everything we want to do in life to embrace the plans of God for our lives. We wouldn’t struggle to do these. However, when we haven’t denied ourselves, we will follow our dreams, build our dream house, buy our dream car and live our dream life, we will accomplish every ambition of our life, we will drive ourselves to achieve every plan we have for ourselves.

Plans/Ambitions/Goals: Am I pursuing my goals/ambitions/plans or am I following the plans/ ambitions/goals God has for me?
Thoughts: Do I think my own thoughts that originate in my mind or am I guided by the mind of Christ and think his thoughts?
Emotions: Am I driven by my own emotions or by the God given emotions for others and myself?
Choices: Do I make my choices according to my liking or are my choices guided by God?

Are my priorities changing?

“So then, any of you who does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple” Luke 14:33.

We will see that some of our worldly interests naturally fade away as we mature in the divine nature of Christ. As Christ gets formed within us, we abandon some of our favorite pastimes that were once very vital to us, without anyone telling us. The importance we had given to certain material things naturally wanes as new priorities emerge within us. As we transform into the likeness of Christ, things that used to make us happy once upon a time will not make us happy any longer. We will find ourselves withdrawing from several worldly pleasures slowly and steadily. These things will happen without us realizing about it.

However, if we fail to deny ourselves, we will keep all our worldly interests, no habit will drop out of our lives, the importance we assign to worldly attraction will not diminish. Our lives won't change. To see if Christ is being formed within us, let's examine if worldly interests within us are dropping out of our lives or not

Priorities: In the past ten years, did my priorities change towards God?
Habits: Do I do the same things I used to do 10 years ago or are my worldly habits dropping out of my life ?
Interests: Do I find my joy in goldy things or do I continue to find joy in the worldly attractions like before?

Does Christ know me?

If we are unwilling to deny ourselves and be powered by the divine nature of Christ, we are in fact rejecting Christ and his very nature.

On the day of judgement, if we were to hear from Christ “‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoer” it will be too late. There is no opportunity for self-correction on that day. However, if we evaluate ourselves today based on the biblical checklist, we still have a chance to correct ourselves. Like we see ourselves in a mirror, let’s examine ourselves based on the Scripture and find out if we truly qualify, while we still have time to correct ourselves.