I'm Following Jesus…For Real This Time

Carrying the cross. Image courtesy Christian Piatt/Patheos.
Carrying the cross. Image courtesy Christian Piatt/Patheos.

Being a Christian, by definition, means we endeavor to follow Jesus. But few if any of us does it, really. I mean all the way. As Shane Claiborne famously once said, Jesus ruined his life. Once he went all in on what he felt God was calling him to do, everything in his life — all he held dear and felt was important — got turned upside down.

It happened all the time in the gospels. The second someone decided to follow Jesus, BAM! Life as they knew it was over.

Who wants that? Who of us is really so invested in this idea of following Jesus that we’d set it all down and walk away if we had to? I don’t know about you, but the very idea of it is pretty terrifying.

So I’m going to try and do it. With some ground rules, like I’m not going to abandon my family. But over the next 16-18 months, I want to be lot more intentional about what it means to follow Jesus. For real.

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