Following Jesus

For the past year, there has been a theme running through our church: it is much easier to believe in Jesus than it is to follow Jesus.  Following takes commitment - duh!  And if you break down that statement, or meditate on it or pray about it, you'd probably come to a 'scare the crap out of you' realization that Jesus is serious.  Like the picture notes, Jesus doesn't want us to be a Twitter follower of Jesus - although the thought of that is pretty cool.  Tweets from Jesus:  "Just wanna say you can do better."  But I digress. 

It's serious stuff when Jesus says, "Say no to yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me."  Taking up one's cross isn't just trudging through life with a good attitude when things aren't going our way.  Jesus was telling his followers to be ready to walk with your cross to your death - in order to show an oppressive regime that you really mean it when you say, "I forgive you. I will turn the other cheek. I will die in order to show you what life really is."  Taking up our crosses is also about us laying down the righteousness we have in our own eyes - pride, arrogance, illusion of control, etc.  It is easy to hear the Word.  It is harder to let the Word guide us.  So, yes...I am waking up to a missional God.  I am waking up to a God who wants me to forsake my shell of introversion in order to go, make, baptize, and teach.  I am waking up to a God who knows that if I follow through with my commitment, the world will experience healing, restoration, peace, and will see glimpses of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.  And the more Christ-followers follow through with their commitment, the closer we'll get to heaven on earth.  This isn't easy.  God never said it would be.  In fact (spoiler alert), we know the ending of all in the Bible who stick to their commitment.  But death isn't the ultimate end.  It's just an end of one chapter, one story.  God's story continues.  And it's a story of going, seeking, reaching, loving, and resurrection.  True presence.  

So...believe Jesus or follow Jesus?  May we have the chutzpah to walk the steps Jesus does.