Follow

It is evident that many will join a church.  Many will claim a denomination.  Some will even buy the bumper sticker declaring their love for Jesus Christ, but the question is: will you follow Christ?  Will you lose all, leave all, give all for the cause of Christ?  How many of us really are willing to live a Christ-like life?  At the risk of sounding pessimistic, I must say: not many.  Most of us are doing what comes "naturally."  We are doing what "feels good."  We are even "following our hearts."  But few are following Christ.  The way of Christ is a difficult way.  It is a challenging way.  If we are honest about the Christ revealed through the Gospels, the life is not an easy one, nor is it glamorous.  There isn't anything natural about someone living a vagabond life so that others might be secure.  We can all agree that being denied by the very folks that you have saved certainly couldn't feel all that good.  Most of our hearts would not lead us to die to our own will.  Don't get me wrong.  Most of us want to do the right thing, the God thing.  It's just that the world's voice is so much louder, well, with T.V. and all.  God's message is buried behind a whole bunch of noise and movement.  We have to be still and quiet to hear it.  We have to pray and meditate to hear it.  We have to really grasp Philippians 1:21.  If we are to live at all, it must be for Christ.  We must be willing to die to self and be raised up in Christ, a new creature.  All of the old must be forgotten about.  We have to move from the old stuff.  Christ is calling us to follow after Him.  Joining a church is not following Christ.  We never see Christ joining a church.  Denominations are no where to be found in Scripture and Jesus probably didn't have a horn to honk for Himself.  But what we do see in Scripture is Christ loving everybody.  Yes, EVERYBODY.  And His love was an action word.  Love is still an action word.  Christ gave two simple rules: Love God and Love neighbor.  Loving God keeps us humble; loving neighbor keeps us holy and whole.  So let's follow Christ: let's roll up our sleeves and go love everybody.

Peace

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