If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23
In the first part of Kyle Idleman’s Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus The author explains the difference between fans and followers and emphasizes that Jesus calls us to be followers. I have quoted and borrowed from part 1 extensively for the past few days. Part two is less quotable. It can be summarized in two words, “So follow.” If it’s what Christ calls us to it’s what we should do.
But how? Idleman compares the process to first love. Our first romantic love is designed to change us from self-centered immature children to adults who love passionately and put others first. We should follow Christ like a young lover purses his love. Idleman makes it clear that the call applies to anyone, in other words, everyone. There is no pre-qualification for following Jesus. Just look at the disciples He called.
Following Jesus, like romantic love, is a story of denial. It’s what separates the child from the adult, the real from the shallow. We are not the most important thing, the object of our love, Jesus, is. The miserable in this life can be categorized as those who miss this point and never get past being self-centered. The moaner and the complainer is the one who never lets go of his mirror.
But real love is a daily affair. We are all familiar with the flash of passion that dies in the day-to-day. Real followers never forget that following is a one foot after the other process. It means following every minute of every day. It means every decision is focused on the one followed. It lasts through the fun times and the great feelings through the times when all there seems to be is pain and sacrifice. It means taking care of the loved one when he/she can no longer care for himself. It means loving and caring when no one else does and when the object of the love doesn’t seem worthy of it.
With Christ it seems a little different but it’s really the same. Jesus is always worthy of following; we just can’t always see that. Sometimes the concrete world calls too loudly. Sometimes the spiritual is just too hard to see. Sometimes Jesus seems so out-of-touch, so politically incorrect. The material world of flesh and blood staring in our faces is often hard to set aside for a Jesus who seems far away and misty and spiritual.
How do we acquire the kind of passion and love that will allow us to follow like that? I think we need to do two things: Ask for it and get to know the giver of that gift. The more we know the wonder of the gift of Jesus, the easier He is to follow.
Taking up a cross and dying to myself sounds like torture. We think that such a decision would make us miserable. Is that what it means to follow Jesus? We wake up each morning and commit to misery. But when we die to ourselves and completely surrender to him, there is a surprising side effect to dying; we discovery true life. In a twist of irony, we find that giving up our lives gives us the life we so desperately wanted all along. Not a Fan, page 170.
Die and live and be blessed.
Nick
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