With this book I complete a trilogy on the spiritual life of those who have become convinced that Jesus

is the One. In the first, In Search of Guidance, I attempted to make real and clear the intimate quality of
life with him as “a conversational relationship with God.” But that relationship is not something that
automatically happens, and we do not receive it by passive infusion. So the second book, The Spirit of
the Disciplines, explains how disciples or students of Jesus can effectively interact with the grace and
spirit of God to access fully the provisions and character intended for us in the gift of eternal life.
However, actual discipleship or apprenticeship to Jesus is, in our day, no longer thought of as in any way
essential to faith in him. It is regarded as a costly option, a spiritual luxury, or possibly even an evasion.
Why bother with discipleship, it is widely thought, or, for that matter, with a conversational relationship
with God? Let us get on with what we have to do. This third book, then, presents discipleship to Jesus as
the very heart of the gospel. The really good news for humanity is that Jesus is now taking students in
the master class of life. The eternal life that begins with confidence in Jesus is a life in his present
kingdom, now on earth and available to all. So the message of and about him is specifically a gospel for
our life now, not just for dying. It is about living now as his apprentice in kingdom living, not just as a
consumer of his merits. Our future, however far we look, is a natural extension of the faith by which we
live now and the life in which we now participate. Eternity is now in flight and we with it, like it or not.