4 Reasons Not To Follow Jesus

I have crazy stories.

So many times, I am like “would you believe me if I told you…?”

You have read my posts… I have had crazy things happen in the past… remember that category 5 hurricane called Maria? Or how about that day that we got caught on my parent’s tiny boat when a violent storm hit us (some people called it a microburst). When I say violent storm, I mean that my dad told one of his friend’s after that we were lucky to be alive. We will just leave it at that.

And this year we had those “would you believe me if I told you…?” stories too.. And I don’t mean COVID. Forget COVID. Because if we aren’t immune to COVID, then COVID didn’t make us immune to life despite the pandemic. I mean rats, and a stolen car, and all the spit in your coffee stories that came right alongside those things.

Targeted

And as a Christ follower, I feel like we are going to always have the crazier stories, because… well… we have a target on our back from the one we call “the enemy”… otherwise known as Satan. His goal is to steal, kill, and destroy. What you may ask would he want to steal, kill, and destroy? He wants to steal the praise and worship that belongs to God alone. Destroy our desire to be obedient to Christ, and kill our faith in our faithful God. And he doesn’t really want the idea of following Christ to be desirable.

So, yes, we are going to have more “would you believe me if…” stories. But this is what I will say, despite all of my “would you believe me if…?’ stories. Just as there are many crazy stories, there are more stories of God providing, and guiding us through. Him giving us a peace that passes understanding, and being our shelter in the storms. Stories that we can look back on and only say “but God.”

There’s Still Something Special

And there have been so many times that people have said to us over the years “I want what you have.”  Meaning people see God’s hand of protection, or blessing in our life. They see that Christ really did come to give life and life to its full… despite the craziness!

But following Christ can be hard to endure. And that isn’t anything that has really changed since Jesus walked the earth. Shortly after Jesus fed the 5000, walked on water and Peter for a brief second did the same, a bunch of His disciples deserted Him, because it was just too hard. They witnessed miracles, and somehow the impossible becoming reality, but they couldn’t wrap their head around the complexities and uncertainties of it all.

Related Post: Back to the Beginning with Jesus

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4 Reasons Not To Follow Jesus

So today as I reflect on some of our crazy stories, I want to share with you 4 reasons why you shouldn’t follow Christ:

1. If you like the “glamour” of it. Maybe you see the pretty lights, Christians with their hair done (and I get my hair done), see smiles, and like the people serving are “all put together”. Maybe you see God moving. You want what they have. Maybe their life looks easy from the outside, and there is no kind of struggle that you can see.
2. If you think your life will be easier because you are serving Him. If we come to Him, will He give us rest? Yes. Is there a peace and joy that can only come from Christ? Yes. Is following Christ “worth it”? Yes. But that doesn’t mean life will be easier. Maybe you have glossed over the verses that say “in this world you will have trouble”, and “consider the cost” of following Him. Maybe you are like the disciples who had just witnessed Jesus move in amazing ways, but now are struggling to understand what His word says because it is hard.
3. If you want God to bless you for your obedience. Will He work all things for the good of those who love Him? Yes. Does that mean we should follow Him because of the good that will come? No. We should follow Christ because we know He is good and faithful, not for what we could possibly get in return.
4. If you want a hope that you can see, and understand. One of the hardest words of Christ to accept are “just believe”. Yet, more times than not, that is how Jesus responds to our disbelief, even when we want answers.

Are you still with me? I promise it gets better from here!

So here we are, we just left it that a number of the disciples turned back and no longer followed Him. Jesus turns to the 12 and says “don’t you want to leave too?” And you have Peter who says “Where else should we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Peter, the one who walked on water, the one who will deny Jesus 3 times shortly before the cross.

7 Reasons to Follow Jesus

And now in reflecting again on all our crazy stories, I want to share with you 7 of the reasons why you should follow Christ, and why if Jesus asked me “Are you going to leave too?”, I can only say “Where would I go?”:

1. Because He created you. He knit you together in your mother’s womb. He cares for you, and He loves you. He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows the desires of your heart, because He put them there.
2. Because He is God, and He is good. He is faithful, even when we are faithless. Nothing that we can not can not do, changes who He is. And He will work all things for the good of those who love Him.
3. Because the deepest desire of your heart is for His name to be known, and for Him to be glorified. He saves us, not for our own glory, but for His.
4. Because He tells us to “just believe”. He knows what is before us, because He has gone before us, and because of that we can trust His word. He knows all of our questions, before we even ask Him, and He always answers us with the answer we need, even if it isn’t the answer we want. (That is one of the things that makes Him good.)
5. Because Jesus is the promised lamb who would take away the sins of the world. He is the One who would be beaten and mocked, take the punishment that we deserved, and by His wounds we are healed.
6. Because His hope doesn’t disappoint. His word says that a hope that is seen is not hope at all. And His hope doesn’t disappoint because it is poured out because of His love. I want us to really take hold of this truth. His love is poured out, into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, which was given to us. This is why His hope can’t disappoint us. Hope is not a birthday wish that will never come true.  His hope won’t be taken away from us, because of something that we don’t do. His hope doesn’t disappoint, because He is God, and He is good.
7. Because of that promise that is to come. No, life will not be easy, but one day He will wipe every tear from our eye, and there will be no more death. And one day we will spend eternity with Him in heaven, if we put our faith in His son, Jesus, who overcame death, so that we could have life.

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Join the Conversation

Now we want to hear from you! What makes it hard for you to follow Christ, and what are some of your reasons for your commitment to follow Him, all the days of your life?