Articles
Following Jesus - Luke 9
Following Jesus - Luke 9
In Luke 9:22-27, Jesus teaches about being a disciple but he calls it ‘following me.’ Who can be a disciple? What will it require? Can I do it? “If ANYONE… “; Jesus opens the door and invites all the will. You CAN. Many won’t. Many will, but only ‘for awhile’. Some will follow him completely.
It begins with the biggest choice you can make: My will or Jesus’ will. My way or Jesus’ way. You must DENY SELF. That is not just to deny yourself ‘things’, but deny SELF. You must crucify the old man. You must die to self. The life you live must be lived according to His teaching. It is no longer YOU that live, but Christ must live in you. (I am paraphrasing Paul, see Gal. 2:20-21; 5:24; 6:14; Rom. 6:11; Col. 2:11-14; etc.)
It may cost you your actual life! Many Christians have been martyred for their faith. They live forever! Others, although they started following Jesus, when faced with martyrdom, they proved unfaithful. They yet eventually died anyway and then faced eternal death. Some ‘walked no more with Jesus’ for even lesser problems: they found his teaching difficult (see John 6: ). Still others, simply got sidetracked by the affairs of THIS life. In Jesus’ words “they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life” (Luke 8:14). So, ‘what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits HIMSELF?”
For such unfaithfulness, Jesus warned that in the day of judgment, He would be ashamed of them!
As I read this, I begin to realize that I am not all that different from the people in the first century! They got up each morning and faced a new day, a day of deciding how to live, how to spend their time, what to devote themselves to. The world calls and beckons them. The affairs of simply living press upon them. So it is with us. In some ways, it may have been more difficult for them: they had no refrigerators to keep food in, no corner grocery store stocked with packaged goods that can be stored in the cupboard at home. Many would spend most of their day finding and preparing their daily food. If they didn’t, they didn’t eat. Even so, Jesus invited them to deny self and follow Him. Likewise, Jesus invites YOU to follow Him.
Are you following Jesus?
Hugh DeLong
