Whats it like to follow?

Tonight the Lord has laid one burning question on my heart, and here I will attempt to analyze it as I filter the answer through the Word. What is it like to follow Jesus? I think this is something that our world has tried to answer in so many ways that people have simply begun making up their own answers and going with it. It is incredibly easy to get caught in that... the making up of one's own rules and definitions by pulling bits and pieces from here and there, but then what you end up with is a man-made gospel (which cannot be in line with the Gospel of Christ, because we are exactly opposite everything that He is). So, what does it mean to truly follow Christ? 

We can begin by looking at the response the very first disciples gave when Jesus called them. Picture this: two random middle aged men chilling out in a boat, fishing (since this was there job). Nobody they know has decided to follow Jesus... really, they aren't even very sure what that means! Then, out of nowhere, Jesus. Mark 1:17-18 says: " 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will send you out to fish for people.' At once they left their nets and followed Him." Did you catch that? AT ONCE they dropped their entire careers, everything they had worked for and depended on to earn money they just abandoned, no questions asked. Now THAT is following.

It is important to understand what it will be like to follow Christ. Our world has created an image where "following Christ"="walking on clouds with everyone you love and millions of dollars and no pain or hardships". I must tell you that this simply is not true. This Bible tells us that it will be hard to follow Jesus. It will not come naturally, and it will not make everything in this world easier. Consider this passage taken from Matthew 8:19-22:  
"Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.'
Jesus replied, 'Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.' Another disciple said to him, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' But Jesus told him, 'Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.' "
 When I first heard our Pastor at Calvary preach on this scripture, it made me sad. Read it again. The follower comes and tells Jesus that he will follow Him, no matter what. And Jesus tells him that sometimes He will not be able to rest even as well as foxes or birds. Another comes and wishes to follow but his father has died and he wants to go and bury him before He goes with Jesus. That doesn't seem too unreasonable to me, yet Jesus says no, he must put the Lord before even burying his father. Following Christ means sacrifices, some that will hurt us, some that others will be hurt by, and some that will seem crazy to the world.

Finally, the ultimate cost of following Christ is laid out plain and simple in Matthew 16:24: "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.' "  Did that say deny myself? What does that even mean? It means putting aside every thought or desire of the flesh, and trading in all personal gain for the glory of the Kingdom of God. It is trading in comfortable, stable, and safe for uncomfortable, unstable, and unsafe (in an earthly sense). It is forgetting what YOU want, and choosing to want WHATEVER God wants, no matter what that looks like. Denying yourself is a daily choice, and one that will never come naturally while we are in our human flesh. And it is impossible to do without asking the help of our Lord. Only He can give us the desire to choose Him, and only He can give us the power and strength to choose Him above us each day.

Can you see the difference now in the gospel we encounter daily compared with the Gospel of Christ? Do you see where some people who claim Christianity in this country and around the world have stopped listening to the Truth and begun making up more convenient and appetizing versions of the gospel? And, most importantly, do you see why they are wrong, and how surprised they and many others will be on judgment day? Let us pray earnestly for the Truth to be proclaimed throughout our nation and world!

p.s. I heard this song on the radio and it really made me recognize the difference in the world and the Word. No offense to Miranda, I don't mind her at all. But this song is a prime example of the way that people have begun to think of Jesus (the way that does not line up with what the Bible says about Jesus).