Being a Disciple is Like Being an Apprentice

In simpler terms, being a disciple is like being an apprentice. Consider how an
electrician or other tradesman grows in skill: by looking to and following someone
we become able to do what that person does. Dallas Willard writes, “A disciple of
Jesus is not necessarily one devoted to doing specifically religious things as that
is usually understood. … I am learning from Jesus how to lead my life, my whole
life, my real life. Note, please, I am not learning from him how to lead his life. His
life on earth was a transcendently wonderful one. But it has now been led.
Neither I nor anyone else, even himself, will ever lead it again. And he is, in any
case, interested in my life, that very existence that is me. There lies my need. I
need to be able to lead my life as he would lead it if he were I” (Dallas Willard,
The Divine Conspiracy [San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1998], 283–84).