Why I follow Jesus (First Musing)
“Dear Lord Jesus, I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, popularity, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to those voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.” —The Road to Daybreak by Henri J.M. Noun
"And He said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.'" [Mat 4:19 NASB]
Why do I follow Jesus?
I have to begin by saying that I don’t follow him very well. My discipleship is a poor one. But it is real. The relationship is sincere and living, while always needing to be approved.
But, why would I follow Jesus?
I plan to write on this question over an extended period of time. I think it is an important question to ask myself. It is an answer I would want to pass on to those I love.
Why do I follow Jesus?
Because, at desperate moments the Lord Jesus has come to lift me up out of despair to have the courage to face life again.
This was true when I was suicidal at seven and a Sunday School teacher shared with me that God loved me so much that the Creator gave HIS SON Jesus to suffer on the cross for me, that I might have an eternal relationship with HIM beginning today (John 3:16). That was the first time that I did not just read the Bible, but the Bible read me, becoming the very presence and power of the Living Christ and giving me an encounter with HIS real love for me and plan for my life.
At each desperate moment in my life
The violent fights in family I grew up in
The divorce of my parents and the fleeing to my grandmothers
The deep sense of despair I felt as a teenager
Being betrayed, rejected, and abandoned by those I deeply loved
The deaths of mentors, mother, father, friends, relatives, and my beloved wife Terry
In all these desperate moments and more, as I sought the Lord Jesus it has been HIS coming to me as the gentle shepherd, providing me courage, strength, peace, and power I don’t have, yet needed to have, that allowed me to navigate through the dark and deadly events of my life “East of Eden.”
In each of these it has been Jesus saying to my soul:
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."
"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS."
"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." [Mat 11:28-30 NASB]
So I follow the Messiah Jesus because HE has chosen to be involved in my life as a friend and Savior. My relationship with HIM has been stable and sustaining. I am alive because of HIM.
For that reason, I follow HIM.
Are you in a desperate moment in life?
Whoever, calls on the name of the LORD Jesus will be saved!
Cry out to HIM today!
"Look! I Jesus, stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will have fellowship together as friends." Revelation 3:20