The Challenge for Those Who Call Themselves Followers of Jesus

Imagine being one who follows Jesus Christ and has agreed to live for him and his purposes. Now, imagine being one of these Christ followers in Afghanistan under the wicked and brutal rule of the Taliban. There's a mark on your life, a call to die. 

Makes me think a lot about what it really means to be a Christian. God doesn't change his personality or character or commands based on what culture we in live or what the politics of the day proclaim. It has to mean the same thing to follow Jesus everywhere- a call to self-sacrifice and a call to live as He commands. All in exchange for eternal life instead of a life separated from God in a very real Hell.

So what does it mean to be a Christian as God defines it? 

Believing that God sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the price for our sins. Believing Jesus died and was resurrected proving He is God. Not a created being, not a man, but God in the flesh. For our lives, it means to turn away from what God defines as sin and to turn toward Him. This new life means bringing God glory, worshiping Him, and walking away from our old life and choosing His priorities as citizens of a heavenly kingdom. All by the power of His Holy Spirit who lives inside of every true believer.

Say goodbye to the pursuit of endless pleasures, of the love of money, power, position, and sex without boundaries. Still interested in calling yourself by the name His Name? 

We Christians are called to be like a grain of wheat. Jesus' own words to His followers are these:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

John 12:24

This dying to self means a deep joy however! As we give up worldly pursuits and pleasures and trust in man's ways and thinking and embrace God's thoughts and his laws as defined by a divinely inspired, unchanging Bible, He transforms us continually into Christlikeness. The Bible is His Word given to all. But it gives us direction and hope. And we live with this hope for our future and the joy that comes from the freedom we have and our obedience to God.

Are you ready for the call? Really ready? It means dying to our desires and plans. It means living as He determines and doing the work of His Kingdom: Proclaiming the Truth of Jesus Christ to those who don't know him, living a life of grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, and purity while we serve others, and choosing to be faithful until the end of our lives. 

"And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

Jesus in Luke 23

What must we give up to follow Jesus? Everything.

What do we gain in exchange? Eternity!