The easiest thing in the world is to accept Jesus. The hardest thing in the world is to follow him.
Why do so many think that the two are interchangeable?
It’s relatively easy to accept Jesus. Honestly, when a person comes to understand just a small part of who Jesus is and what he stands for it naturally follows to want to know him better. Really. I know there’s a lot of bad information about him out there, but the truth is he’s the Son of God and he cares about us. In fact, his love for us is so great and so real and he found a long-distance relationship with us so dissatisfying that he came down from heaven and became one of us, ultimately suffering and dying for our sake. I don’t know about you, but if a person so much as slows down so I can merge onto the freeway they’re okay in my book. Someone who’s willing to die for me is golden.
Accepting Jesus is the easy part. After learning the truth, it’s almost automatic. I mean, he’s one cool guy. Just acknowledging that is a no-brainer. But following him?
Following Jesus means taking up a cross and walking the road to Golgotha. I grew up going to church so I’ve been hearing about “taking up my cross” for as long as I can remember. Christians have a way of making that sound poetic or pretty. Really, it’s not. The cross was a cruel and painful instrument of death. You would only be carrying one if someone was about to nail you to it. If you’re carrying a cross, you’re on your way to die.
If accepting a nice deed done on my behalf is automatic, then willingly dying is pretty much the dead opposite. There’s nothing natural about it. I don’t find myself, of my own accord for no particular reason at all, pondering the idea of laying down my life. On the contrary, I rather like my life, even on the days when I find myself saying I wish I were dead. I like my life and I like getting my way and I like living. I don’t care for dying. From what I’ve seen, it’s really not my bag.
And yet, that’s what taking up a cross is all about. That’s what following Jesus is all about. Dying. To yourself and to this world. Death. Letting go. Losing. And doing it because you chose to—because you want to. Because you want to follow Jesus.
That’s hard.
Accepting Jesus (calling yourself a Christian) and following him (being a disciple) are not the same thing. To merely accept Jesus in some emotional or academic kind of way is nothing like following him. Tons of people accept Jesus but very few really follow. Jesus himself said that there are a lot of people out there who, on the day of judgment, will call out to him “Lord, Lord.” He said many of those people will be people he doesn’t know, people who don’t know him. Pledging allegiance to God means very little if you don’t follow where he goes.
I think about where I am in life, where I am with Jesus, and it seems to me that I accept him quite readily but I hesitate to actually follow him, even on the days when I do. Following is hard. It’s hard and it’s complex and it’s a task I will never fully master. It’s just too foreign to my nature.
I’m a taker, not a giver.
I like what Paul says about all this in Romans 7 (from The Message):
“I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
“It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
“I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?”
Here’s the cool part:
“The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.”
The fact of the matter is that I’m pretty worthless on my own. Not good for much of anything. But Jesus has in mind to change that. All I have to do is join him, not just accepting him, but actually walking with him. Oh, and he’s on his way to Skull Hill and he’s carrying a cross.
Who’s in?
