Why I Follow Jesus

Another outcome of my trip to Africa has been the opportunity to wrestle with a simple question: why should anyone follow Jesus? Is it because He will heal us, deliver us, give us more prosperity, fix our relationships, make our life easier overall? Is it because if we follow Him, He will give us eternal life in addition to giving us a better life now? Jesus will do many of these things, but that is not, or in my opinion, should not be why we follow Jesus. That is a god that we can use to accomplish our own purposes. That is a god we can manipulate if we have enough ‘faith’. Instead, the answer I came up with is simple, at least for me. I have decided that we follow Jesus because that is what we have been created to do; that is our destiny. God created us in His image, to be His image bearers in the world. We were created to have Christ in us and us in Christ. Nothing more and nothing less. When we align ourselves with God, conform to His plan for our lives, we are the most satisfied.

That does not mean we give up our individual identity. I can think of myself as a beam of light. Light can be broken down into colors – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. When I conform to Christ, the colors become more vibrant; deeper reds, richer blues, greener greens and so on. I don’t lose my identity in Christ, I become more of the person God created me to be. A fuller, richer John (hmmm. Actually a scary thought). Haven’t you had the experience of meeting someone for the first time, looking at their face, and knowing that they follow Christ? There is brightness, a vitality, a serenity that can only come from Jesus in their life.

I thought about it this way. For years I lived a Christless life. I was a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. No amount of work, prestige, accomplishment, relevance, money, power, or emotional smashing would make that peg go into that hole. Something was missing, there was no peace. My life, in spite of everything, was still empty. I had a beautiful wife, two great kids, the dream job, plenty of money, good health – but there was still emptiness. And anger, resentment, bitterness, jealousy, and unforgiveness; the absence of peace and grace. I had a critical spirit. And then I found Jesus, or I should say, Jesus found me. One of the gifts of the Kingdom of God is a transformed heart. That transformation rounded off the edges on the peg, and for the first time it fit into the hole. Life shifted and I found meaning, purpose, peace, and wholeness. Not perfectly, but still freedom and victory. Someone said “peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of Christ”.

The Kingdom of God is here, but it is not here in its fullness. I fit into the hole, God had made me Holy. But I am still being fit into the hole, the edges are still being rounded off even though I am a rounded, smooth peg. I know this doesn’t make sense. But that is the way it is. The author of Hebrews gets to the heart of this point when he says “because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever    (perfectly round – my words) those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10: 14)

If Jesus wants to lift me from poverty to prosperity, great. If He does not, that is ok also. If He heals me, great. If not, I still have hope. Wherever He takes me, I will follow. The greatest gift is being where I was made to be. Being accepted and valued, knowing that I have purpose and power to accomplish His agenda. Here is the other image God gave me: I was standing on the street corner of a large city; 100’s of people and cars frantically passing me by. I knew in my heart that my house/home was in this city but I didn’t know where it was or how to get there. I was lost, alone, and wanting that love and acceptance that only home, real home, not the kind of home many of us had to grow up in, could give. And then, suddenly Jesus lifted me up and miraculously put me in that home where I knew absolutely I was loved, accepted, and valued just for who I was and that that sense of security would never be taken away from me. I know that is why I exist – to walk and grow in this intimate relationship with Jesus for eternity, to follow Him, and to be used by Him to accomplish His eternal purpose: to release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world.

I never want to go back to being a square peg. I never want to seek my ‘salvation’ in my own power, in the many tempting ways the world offers me to find my value. I have been down that road, it is an empty, lonely path; and in the end it leads to death. If not physical death, at least spiritual and emotional death. And so, I choose the way of Jesus. This means to align myself with Him, to live as He lived, to speak as He spoke, and to treat others the way He did. Not because I have to and not in a superficial way. He lives in me now. I want to let His life flow into mine, like two streams mingling where a tributary enters the main river. With time and distance from the point of intersection, the waters from both have so mixed that you cannot tell one flow from the other. Of course, I cannot do this in my own power. The other gift of the Kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit. What is impossible in my power, is possible in the power of the Holy Spirit working and moving within me. It will take time and it will never be done perfectly in this world, but it is happening to me. I guess this desire to conform to Jesus in every part of my life causing me to make daily decisions about what I do, how I speak and how I act is called obedience.

Most of the people I know who read this blog will probably think “sure, I knew this.” My prayer is that someone will stumble on this blog, be patient enough to get to the end of this post, and say “wow, that sounds like me. I wonder if this Jesus could be the answer to my empty life?” If that is you and you are ready, say to Jesus “I need you in my life. Will you come and fill me with your life and Spirit?” Then send me a comment and I will pray for you.