Who Are You Following?
God is good and has good gifts in store for us. It’s His nature and desire to be generous with His love and gifts… “For in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Everything we need can be found in Him.
Do you believe that? Do you believe that God really is good and really can provide you with everything you need?
Sometimes we have to look at how we live our lives to see what we actually believe about God and about ourselves. Not necessarily the big things, but all the small, seemingly insignificant things that add up over time… our habits, where we set our attention regularly, who we surround ourselves with… who we are following.
Just like pro surfer Bethany Hamilton says about surfing waves, you have to “look where you want to go,” we have to do that as followers of Jesus as well. In surfing, you might be looking into the mouth of a big scary wave, while in Christianity we are called to look into the eyes of our loving, compassionate Savior who simply invites us to come and follow him.
It’s still scary though.
It’s scary because we have to look away from a lot of other things first… things that offer safety, security, and comfort. We have to trust that His way is better, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Jesus says these nice, comfy words in Matthew 11:28-30:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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.”
But he also says this in Luke 9:23:
“Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.’”
And this in John 12:24:
“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.”
Jesus invites us to come and follow him, and promises us rest for our weary souls, but he also asks us to come and die. . . die to our selves, our ideas and plans for our lives, our identity… all of it. We might get some of those back after we put them in the ground, but we might not. As Christians, we have decided that it’s worth it… that God is good, Jesus is King, and that His ways are higher and better than our ways. But sometimes we try to scootch on up into that throne along with Him and it doesn’t work. We think that we know better, or when something doesn’t go our way we get angry with God and decide we would have been a better king.
But God doesn’t share His throne. In His great mercy, He doesn’t let our own plans succeed for very long and gently brings us back over time.
What does it look like to follow this King Jesus, the “Author and Protector of our faith”, who “lives and reigns forevermore?”
Firstly, we have to acknowledge the areas we are trying to go down two paths at once. Just like when you go hiking, you get to choose your path, but you can’t go down more than one. You have to pick one.
Our lives can feel chaotic when we are trying to please many “masters”, wear a lot of different hats, and meet a lot of needs. We love feeling productive and weigh our “success” based on how much we are able to measure and weigh with our eyeballs. But as Christians, we believe there is an unseen Kingdom of God at work all around us, not just as a future hope, but right now. We live in a kingdom where success is not measured in the same way as the world. Jesus talked all about that in His time on this earth, (see the Beatitudes in Matthew 5).
The Bible makes very clear that God is the One true King and He will not share His throne. We can still have busy lives when God has called us to steward many things and people, but we have to remember that we are stewards, not masters.
That is what I am learning right now. Over the past year I have learned to make more space for rest… emotionally, mentally, and physically. (See other posts on that). I’ve also learned that it can be very uncomfortable to follow the path He has set before me. Not everyone is going to like it or understand and I certainly can’t do it perfectly. But I am listening, quieting, doing my best to cut the distractions that suck life from my soul and turn to Jesus who fills and fuels my soul.
My life still feels busy, busier than I would like. But instead of being overwhelmed, anxious, and trapped by my to-do lists, full calendar, and endless needs of others around me… I am learning how to turn my eyes to Jesus amidst it all. Because I trust that His ideas and plans for my life are better than anything I could come up with, I can trust that He will equip me to do everything He has called me to do. That is my hope. That is my treasure. I can find rest amidst the chaos, I can have confidence amidst the doubts, I can hold onto the assurance that following Him is the only way to stay grounded in a world that is constantly trying to uproot me.
“Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.”- Psalm 139:7-10