Following in Your Footsteps: Not always easy

 

Last post in the series, we talked about how if you love someone, you should treat the person with kindness, patience, respect, ect. If that's what Jesus did, we should do it too, right?

 

Side note- I was going to include some awesome quotes for this post, but sad news, I let my boyfriend borrow the book and he lives like 3 hours away from me so when I get it back, I'll update this post with the quotes (because they're too good not to share!) Now back to it..

 

I'll be honest, sometimes it's not always easy to love someone. For example, I love my brother, always have and always will. However, I may not act like it. He annoys me, on purpose. I don't really understand him, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't understand me. We're siblings and that's pretty normal, I think. The point is, I can say I love someone but it can be hard to act like I love them. Make sense?

 

The thing is, Jesus never said it would be easy. I've said before that life was never promised to us that it would be easy. I think it's safe to say then, it's not always easy to love. I mean, Jesus said, "love your enemies"....yep, enemies. Matthew 5:43-44 says, " “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." So not only love your enemy, but pray for them?! That can't be easy.  I'm sure He knew that. Love for Him was easy...because He is love. Us, on the other hand, love doesn't come that natural.

 

When we love our enemies, people most likely will give us a strange look or even turn their back on us. They don't understand why we would react with love instead of hate towards our enemies. We may lose friends. We may lose respect from others. Who knows, but those things don't matter...what matters is that we are doing what Jesus commanded us to do...to love.

 

Not only will we face opposition from others, but other obstacles may arise too. For instance, the debate over gay marriage has divided the church. This is a huge obstacle. I'm not going to get deep into this issue right now (if you want to read a great book for both sides of the debate..read "Torn-Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays vs Christians Debate"...awesome read that will really open your eyes...at least it did for me). Anyway, churches who welcome gay/lesbian relationships are being frowned upon and churches who turn away gay/lesbian relationships are being frowned upon. Division is an obstacle that the church is facing right now and the only way we are to be united again is to get back to the basics of Jesus...love.

 

I mean seriously why do we get ourselves into positions like these? Ultimately, we need to check ourselves..."Is this loving? Is this life-giving?" and of course the common question of "What would Jesus do?"

 

It may not be easy to stand up for what you believe in, but Jesus says to "carry your cross". Matthew 16:24-26 says, " Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?"

 

It wasn't easy for Jesus to take the sins of the world on His back...it wasn't easy for Jesus to have people who he loved, mock Him, but He completed his mission anyway. His mission of love and grace. Jesus knew that in order for his mission of love and grace to spread across the world, He knew that we as followers would have to deny ourselves...get past our selfishness and fear of serving others rather than ourselves. He made it clear to us that it would not be easy...we would have to carry a heavy cross that may inflict some inconveniences BUT He did promise that when we go all in and follow Him, it will be worth it. Opposition and discomfort didn't stop Jesus, so it shouldn't stop us either.

 

 

"Get behind the line leader!"

You remember when you were a kid in school and the teacher would say, "get in line!" What was the best part of getting in a line? Being the line leader, of course! Whenever we would get in line, there would usually always be a race to be the line leader (if the teacher didn't assign line leaders). Now that I think about it, what is so cool about being a line leader anyway?! I guess it's because we are humans and even when we are kids, we like to be in control...go figure. 

If I wasn't line leader, I always hoped to be closest to the front. You want to know why? I remember the first time I got in trouble at school was in 3rd grade and  I was in the back of the line (aka "caboose" the teacher would call it, to make us feel better...it never worked for me).  Anyway, I was talking to little Tommy and we all know, you're not supposed to talk in the hallway, right? Well my teacher heard me chatting away and as a consequence I had to pull a marker (in front of all my classmates) and let me tell you, I thought the world was ending. So ever since that life changing moment (well, maybe not life changing), I decided that it is less tempting to talk or misbehave when you're closest to the line leader.

So while I was having my quiet time, reading my bible and listening to music (Audrey Asssad, of course!) I realized that we aren't meant to be line leaders. Line leaders are supposed to be responsible and know where to go and how to get there. Let's face it, we aren't always good at those three things. I'm irresponsible at times...I don't always know where to go and I definitely don't know how to get there. You want to know my solution? I step back. Let Jesus lead and realize that He is my line leader. 

In order to follow Jesus like a good follower, I must stay towards the front of the line, preferably right behind Him. The farther back that I'm in line, the more I lose sight of Him. We are more likely to be tempted to do things we shouldn't and that leads us to discipline (like pulling a marker...or worse, and that's no fun, trust me!)  Line leaders lead us to our destination and set an example for us along the way. Who better to lead us, than Jesus?! He sets the example. He knows where to go. He knows how to get there. He knows how to act along the way. He set the example of patience, true love, forgiveness, acceptance, service, humility and many, many other attributes. 

Jesus told his disciples (and us), "Whoever wants to be my disciple, must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). John 8:12 says, "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” There are many other verses about how Jesus is to be our example...our line leader, but these show that we can't go wrong when we follow him.

Let's have the mindset of Audrey Assad's song, "No Turning Back".... "I'm following behind you. I'm staying close beside you. I've got nothing to lose and I've got everything to find."  So step back and let Jesus lead you. He knows the way. 

Check out one of my favorite songs...