I’ve been giving a lot of thought to that question and I hope you will too… I think about the 21 year old girl I was (34 years ago) and how naïve I was at the time I accepted the invitation to invite Jesus Christ into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior. I meant every word of the Sinner’s Prayer I repeated, but I had NO idea that my decision to become a Follower of Jesus, a member of His Remnant would redefine the very fiber of who I was (or rather who I am). Galatians 2:20 says:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Perhaps the same has been the case for you? Being a follower of Jesus is a life-time journey of renewal and revelation of who YOU are IN Him.
Take a look at the story of Jesus talking with Nicodemus in John 3:21:
“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
God’s mercies and His grace are new every day. As we determine to allow Jesus reign over these lives which we have given over to Him, Holy Spirit renews our minds. He guides us, He leads us, He changes us and we go through hills and valleys as we allow Him to renew our minds. It is not an easy process, especially for those of us who come to know Jesus at a later stage in life. But God’s grace IS sufficient. He IS El Roi (the God who sees us), He knows us intimately, therefore Holy Spirit knows how to move in our lives as we grow in Him. Romans 12:2 says:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
When you allow Holy Spirit access to who you are, the changes will amaze you. You become hungry for intimacy with God. You long to know Him on a deeper level. The Bible (His Word) suddenly jumps off the pages and fills your heart and mind with understanding. The more you come to know God, the more you want to know. Holy Spirit fills you with an abundance of peace, of joy, of understanding, of love. And all of a sudden, YOU GET IT! Just like where it says in John 3:37-38:
“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Where you once felt empty or parched; where you once felt as if there was a void deep inside of you that no matter WHAT you tried to fill it up with – sex, drugs, alcohol, addiction, money, pretense/fantasy – whatever it was (you know what it was…) has been FINALLY filled with what God fully intended man to have when He created us – FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM – restored by the blood of Jesus. There is no greater gift, no greater joy, no greater way to live than knowing that in Him you move, you live and have your being. Being a follower of Christ is knowing that His Spirit dwells inside of you and that no matter – YOU ARE HIS. It’s the reason why “David danced!” (See 2 Samuel 6:14). It’s the reason why having a relationship with God and being in fellowship is like “having fire shut up in your bones.” Being a follower of Jesus is knowing who God created you to be. It is exhilarating and fulfilling and complex (we make it complex) all at the same time.
Jesus does not become a “Sunday” only thing, He becomes a “front-and-center-every-day-of-this-life” vital part of who you are. The heart beat of all you say and do. To be a follower of Jesus, is to recognize Him not only as Lord and Savior, but to also recognize that Holy Spirit is your teacher who teaches and transforms us ALL the way up to our very last breath.
Being a follower of Jesus, means looking at His life through the Word of God and studying it. Recognizing that we CANNOT earn Heaven. That it is not a matter of works, but a matter of grace. It is worshiping God and learning not to be led by your feelings or your situations. It is learning to praise God in the midst of your darkest moments (they call that a sacrificial offering of praise). It is learning to accept that we only see in part, but (as it says in 1 Corinthians 13:12) recognizing that God sees in full. It is walking by faith and not by sight, even when you don’t “logically” see a way – He IS the Way. We aren’t trusting in ourselves, but in Him who has called us. It is asking God to change the parts of you that need changing; healing the areas within you that need healing, loving others even when you have to ask for His assistance in doing so.
It is ALL that in more… It’s asking Him through prayer to show us individually what following Him will entail. They call it a personal relationship for a reason – it’s between YOU and HIM. But I can tell you from an honest, personal level of someone who chose Jesus as her Lord and Savior 34 years ago, loving Jesus is the most important choice I ever made. The Bible says in Philippians 1:21:
“To live is Christ, to die is to gain.”
I am not perfect at it (the only perfect person that ever was is Jesus), I am a work in progress, but I KNOW my purpose. I KNOW Who I belong to. I KNOW how MUCH I’m loved and I KNOW that because of ALL Jesus did for me, I will spend not only THIS life but ALL of eternity doing my best to love Him and thank Him and be with Him because He FIRST loved me. (And He loves YOU too 🙂 ).
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