The Way of Becoming
Week 1 — "The Way" | Following Jesus is more than believing differently. It's living differently.
This is your weekly companion to the weekend message in "The Way" series — made to spend time with all week, not just read once. Each post follows the same rhythm: a short recap, the central Scripture and thought, a practice to try, seven days of readings with reflection questions, and a closing prayer.
Recap
In Anne Tyler's novel Morgan's Passing, there's a man named Morgan Gower who works in a hardware store — but he loves assuming other identities. At a puppet show in the park one day, a woman went into labor. "Is there a doctor?" Morgan stepped in and helped deliver the baby. Only later did people learn he wasn't a doctor at all. His explanation? He simply discerns what people expect, and fits himself into that role.
Here's the question worth sitting with: has being a Christian become one of those identities that's easy to impersonate — something we can put on without it actually shaping who we're becoming?
Being a Christian isn't a cross tattoo, a cross necklace, or a Bible verse in your bio. Christianity isn't measured by the symbols we wear or the statements we declare. It's revealed by the life we live.
That's what this whole thirteen-week series is really about. Not who you were. Not even who you are right now. Each week, we're going to ask a different version of the same question: who are you becoming?
Your growth — your spiritual formation — is, honestly, the deepest desire we have for you in this season. You, becoming who God made you to be. That's the whole point.
The earliest believers weren't known merely as people who held a religious position. They were recognized as people who belonged to a way — a way of life, being formed over time. Before Christianity became known primarily as a religion, its followers were known as People of the Way (Acts 9:2; 24:14).
For the next thirteen weeks, we're exploring what it means to follow the way of Jesus. Not merely to admire him. Not merely to agree with him. Not merely to believe things about him. But to become like him.
Here's the sharper question underneath all of it: have we become consumers of Christianity instead of apprentices of Jesus?
Central Thought & Scripture
"Then he said to the crowd, 'If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose or forfeit your own self?'" — Luke 9:23–25 (NLT)
Jesus doesn't stop at right belief here — elsewhere he cares deeply about what we believe about him, and belief is assumed underneath everything he's about to say. But in this moment, he's emphasizing what belief is meant to produce: give up your own way. Take up your cross daily — not once, but every day, on repeat. Follow me — an ongoing direction, not a single decision. Eugene Peterson had a phrase for this kind of following: a long obedience in the same direction. This is becoming language. Jesus is describing a life that's continually being reshaped, not a position you accept and move on from.
That long obedience shows up all over Scripture. David didn't suddenly become brave the moment he faced Goliath. Daniel didn't decide to start praying only when the lions showed up. Even Jesus practiced — fasting forty days before he ever began his public ministry. Becoming happens in the practicing, long before the moment that reveals it.
Game day is a terrible time to begin training.
A Practice for the Week
This week's practice: come to church.
Not because attending makes you a Christian — but because showing up every week is itself a practice of becoming. If something's a priority, you rearrange your life around it: pick it over the lake, the kids' game, sleeping in. So this week — and every week for these 13 weeks — come to church. Not out of obligation, but because you're serious about becoming.
"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another." — Hebrews 10:25 (NLT)
The earliest believers didn't treat gathering as optional. "They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity." (Acts 2:46–47, NLT) Showing up together, week after week, was itself one of their practices — not a byproduct of their faith, but part of how it was formed.
Daily Scripture & Reflection
Day 1 Read: Luke 9:23–25 Reflect: Jesus talks about losing your life to save it. What's one part of "your own way" you sense him asking you to give up right now?
Day 2 Read: John 8:31–32 Reflect: Discipleship is about remaining, not just believing once. Where have you started something with God but not stayed faithful to it?
Day 3 Read: Luke 6:40 Reflect: A fully trained disciple becomes like their teacher. What's one specific way you want to become more like Jesus this season?
Day 4 Read: Matthew 28:18–20 Reflect: Jesus commissions us to "make disciples," not simply "make believers." What's the difference, practically, in your own life or relationships?
Day 5 Read: James 1:22–25 Reflect: Where have you been a "hearer" of something God has said to you, but not yet a "doer"?
Day 6 Read: Matthew 7:21–23 Reflect: This is a sobering passage. What's the difference between doing things in Jesus' name and actually knowing him?
Day 7 Read: Romans 10:9–10 Reflect: Belief and confession are where it starts, not where it ends. How is what you believe in your heart actually showing up in how you live?
Prayer
Father, I don't want a faith that's just an identity I put on when it's convenient. I want to actually become like Jesus through the slow, repeated practice of following him. Forgive me for the times I've said I believe one thing and lived another. Teach me to give up my own way, to remain faithful to your teaching, and to become like my Teacher. Holy Spirit, do the work in me that I cannot do on my own — form me from the inside out. In Jesus' name, Amen.
