Before we start to follow Jesus, the hardest thing for us to do was to decide to accept Him as our LORD and Saviour in our mind and heart, conclusively, once and for all. Since then we are on a quest to go deeper in our walk with Him through obedience unto Him and doing the will of our Heavenly Father just as Jesus did.
There is process and progression in our walk of faith and we are but pilgrims on planet Earth. We have not arrived at the destination of our faith at the moment of our conversion or any time soon thereafter; we have a lifetime to attain God's purpose and will for us with the help of the Holy Spirit and other believers.
There is process and progression in our walk of faith and we are but pilgrims on planet Earth. We have not arrived at the destination of our faith at the moment of our conversion or any time soon thereafter; we have a lifetime to attain God's purpose and will for us with the help of the Holy Spirit and other believers.
And, so we continue to love not worldly things such as lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life. We are to walk not as people who do not follow Jesus, but with self-examination and care to practice spiritual disciples such as prayer, studying the Word of God, fasting, tithing, praise and worship. Just as secular schooling, we grow from one level to the next.
We are to take up our cross daily and follow Christ such as releasing forgiveness (instead of harbouring unforgiveness), loving people who are different from us, and obeying God wholeheartedly instead of following Him on our terms. If God is not our LORD of all, He is not our LORD at all. God is worthy of our all and no less than that. This dying to self need to grow so that God will increase while our self will diminish as we relinquish the throne of our heart unto Him.
True discipleship is more than just cosy fellowshipping and attending church. We need to see the bigger picture of God's desire for the church and each individual believer to keep growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Chirst. We need to stay hungry for the things of God; seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Our faith will be tested just as Job was subjected to the onslaught of our adversary within limits set by God and Peter was sieved by this same adversary of our faith, but Jesus had interceded for Peter.
If none will follow, would we still follow Jesus? If things are not happening according to what we expect, would we still follow Jesus? Is it going to be all in for Jesus unconditionally?
Indeed, the highest peak we can attain as a follower is to love Jesus more than our own life because He is trustworthy and has only our best interest in His heart. May we continue to grow deeper in our walk of faith and make this a living truth:-
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20; NIV)"
Click here for The Cost of Salvation and be challenged to take up your cross daily and follow Jesus beyond attending church per se. True discipleship need to be happening every day with intentionality and internalisation, and not just when we attend church.
