Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me." (NLT)
There are three kinds of people: Gentiles (without God), Jews (without Jesus), and Christians. Which one are you? And are you what you say your are or is that just a convenient moniker?
Going to church on Sundays does not make us a Christian, but it is a good start. The problem is many believe fulfilling this weekly obligation is all that is expected. Jesus says nothing about going to church. He assumes we are doing that.
Those He was addressing in the crowd were Jews. They attended church. They believed in the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Exodus 3:6) So the question was about following Him and to do that they (we) must turn from our selfish ways. We must turn from our worldly desires and put God first in our lives.
Is being a Christian a concept to you or a commitment? Do we turn to God because He is our friend, one who we chat with each day? Or do we look to Him in our need to fulfil our worldly desires? Are we committed to a relationship with Jesus?
And that cross thing, it sounds painful. I believe Jesus is telling us that we must be willing to take on the rejection, the humiliation, the attitudes, and even perhaps physical beatings that may come as a result of following Him and telling the Good News everywhere we go.
Can we put Him first in our lives and be willing to take up our cross? If we can say yes to that question we are committed. If no, then perhaps being a Christian is just a concept; a name we call ourselves.
We can follow anyones ideas and our conception of their ideals. We cannot truly follow someone until we are close enough to know them. Being a Christian is not about concept it is about commitment. It is about belief; about knowing that you know that you know.
No comments:
Post a Comment