Have you decided to FOLLOW Jesus? Think about that, have you REALLY decided to follow Jesus? Or have you minimized your discipleship to doing something as simple as clicking a button on a mouse. Click, I am following Jesus. Click, I am not following Jesus anymore. 

The culture of following on social media is prevalent among many. For us to follow a person is not hard. All the effort that is needed is bending our finger and finding a person that is somewhat interesting on the Internet. I have read on a blog that people with an Instagram account can follow or unfollow approximately 150 people per day.

Have you ever asked why someone would want to follow others on a social media platform? Well, I have an answer, people follow others because that person has the knowledge and insight of a similar interest. They would follow a person who has the character or personality to whom they feel they can authentically connect. They may follow them because they have a lifestyle they want to reflect. Or they may follow people because they have high quality visuals. Despite why people follow others on social media it is not the framework that Jesus has for His potential disciples.

Luke 9:23-24

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.

Social media wants your attention but Jesus wants your life. Social media people can follow many others but Jesus demands you lose your entire life for His sake. Social media followers receive high quality photos and video content but Jesus followers are saved receiving salvation. Social media followers can follow and unfollow with a click of a button with no foreseeable consequences. However, to unfollow Jesus means you lose your life. 

As a follower of Jesus do we carry our cross and deny self? 

The denying of our life and bearing our cross is connected. When you bear your cross you must deny yourself and when you deny yourself you are also bearing your cross. When we bear our cross we experience some sort of pain. Why is that? Well, simply put Jesus suffered so we being Christ like i.e. Christian we will suffer too. Losing our life to be like Jesus will bring about agony (Luke 22:44), grief and sorrow (Isaiah 53:3), and suffering (Hebrews 2:18).  

 What lead Jesus to take up that cross? The answer is a life of self-denial. This attitude is epitomized in Mark 14:36 “…remove this cup from Me yet not what I will, but what you will.” As you may know, Jesus drank the cup that the Father had for Him which was to be crucified on the cross. He denied Himself to the point that He was crucified on the cross. 

There is no exception to this when following Jesus, when we deny ourselves and bear our cross these pains will come. This is where some of Jesus disciples, and maybe you, will fall way. Mark 4:16-17 … “In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.”

The affliction could be the pain of not getting what you want, suffering from denying yourself access to a thought, or saying something to someone, or doing something to someone.

As a follower of Jesus you should expect your life will be like His.  Luke 6:40 “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.”

Moreover, as a follower you are not going beyond the teacher. If you are moving beyond the leader, then you have become the leader. You are now ruling and directing in your own life.

  If you go to the left when he goes the right, you have stopped following. If you go to the right when he goes to the left you have stopped following. If you go the opposite direction, you have stopped following and become the leader of your own life.  

Proverbs 4:25-27 “Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil ”

Interestingly, Jesus had types of followers and solicited people to follow while He walked the earth. Let us see how He dealt with it and who they are. Luke 9:57-58

“As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

This is the want-to-be disciple, Jesus had to let that person know, there is not a place on earth where he will find a place to lay his head or have a home like a bird or fox. Can you truly say this world is not my home I am just passing through? With that in mind do you still want to follow Jesus?

Next there is the disorderly disciple. Luke 9:59-60 “And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” This disorderly person needed the edification and the realty check to put first the lordship of Jesus and the reign of the Kingdom of God, even though that meant that he had to miss burying his father. 

To the uncommitted disciple: Luke 9:61-62 “Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No

one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

The person was not ready, he had the Lord Jesus right there before him and yet he still needed to go back to say goodbye. Why didn’t he take care of that before he came to Jesus and said I will follow you? It is because he was not fully prepared to commit the life to following Jesus. 

Jesus says follow me Luke 5:27-28

“…He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.”

Is it really that easy to follow Jesus and become his disciple, you may be asking? With the right mindset and understanding the answer is yes but for others it is a resounding no. They may still have a desire for the old life, a lack of preparation, or misplaced priorities which makes it hard to be a disciple of Jesus. Also, there are the realities of walking the straight path behind Jesus and coming to the necessary afflictions that cause one to question their loyalty to following Jesus. We live in a culture that promotes following people with the ease of a click of a button and unfollowing in like manner. Do you follow, click, and unfollow Jesus or do you leave everything thing behind and follow Jesus?  Please consider your commitment to being a disciple of Jesus.