Who Is A Daily Follower?
The persona of a daily follower
Dear #DailyFollower,
I trust your new year is getting off to a great start.
It’s usually the next best time of the year to make plans for the better, right after the last few months of a year looking into a new year.
I do hope, like me, you’re making good on your plans to do better in 2025.
Writing to you every day in 2025 is one such commitment.
In today’s letter, I describe who a daily follower is based on insights the Scriptures provide from things Jesus said while on His earthly ministry - one of the key ways we know the One Who called us to be daily followers.
Professionally, I build technology products and platforms, and personas are a big part of my day-to-day. They describe our ideal customer profile; if anyone checks our persona boxes, they are the customers we hope to serve.
Today, I want to share the profile of the ideal members of the #DailyFollower community.
In John 15:1-11, EXB, Christ answers the question of who a daily follower is:
1 “I am the ·true vine [contrast Israel, the unreliable vine; Psalm 80:8–18; Isaiah 5:1–7]; my Father is the ·gardener [farmer; vinedresser].
2 He ·cuts off [or takes away] every branch ·of mine [in me] that does not produce fruit [whose lives bear no indication of a relationship with Christ]. And he ·trims and cleans [prunes; the verb implies both trimming and cleaning] every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit [Heb. 12:4–11].
3 You are already ·clean [or pruned] because of the words I have spoken to you.
4 ·Remain [Abide] in me, and I will ·remain [abide] in you. A branch cannot produce fruit ·alone [by itself] but must ·remain [abide] in the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit alone but must ·remain [abide] in me.
5 “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If any ·remain [abide] in me and I ·remain [abide] in them, they produce much fruit. But ·without [apart from] me, they can do nothing.
6 If any do not ·remain [abide] in me, they are like a branch that is thrown away and then ·dies [withers; dries up]. People ·pick up [gather together] dead branches, throw them into the fire, and burn them.
7 If you ·remain [abide] in me and ·follow my teachings [my words abide/remain in you], you can ask anything you want, and it will ·be given to [be done for; come to] you.
8 You should produce much fruit and ·show that you are [or become] my ·followers [disciples], which ·brings glory to [glorifies] my Father.
9 I loved you as the Father loved me. Now ·remain [abide] in my love.
10 I have ·obeyed [kept] my Father’s commands, and I ·remain [abide] in his love. In the same way, if you ·obey [keep] my commands, you will ·remain [abide] in my love. 11 I have told you these things so that ·you can have the same joy I have [my joy may be in you] and so that your joy ·will be the fullest possible joy [might be complete].
It’s a long read, but here are my submissions on who a daily follower is. A daily follower is one who (daily):
Sees Jesus as their vine - the source of everything in their life,
Acknowledges God as their vinedresser - the controller of everything in their life,
Submits to God’s pruning, trimming and cleaning work,
Commits to bearing Christ-like fruits - doing Christ’s works (Luke 4:18-21, EXB),
Believes that Christ’s words already make them clean,
Abides in Christ by consistently following the teachings of Christ and
Obeys all of God’s instructions (both written and revealed) at all times.
For a daily follower, there are no off days; these seven things are a part of their daily existence.
I use this list (not exhaustive) for regular self-audits to evaluate my commitment to following Jesus.
Over the last four years, my degree of surrender on each of the points outlined here has consistently improved.
You can also use this list to evaluate yourself and commit to greater surrender with each passing day.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this, you should consider joining us by subscribing now to get more newsletters like this.
Also, share this with someone in your circle who wants to deepen their relationship with God in 2025.
Yours faithfully,
John, A #DailyFollower