Following Jesus

“Come, follow me” (Matthew 5:19a).

If you’ve been around church much, you have heard this a thousand times.

But here’s the million dollar question: what if Jesus literally meant for us to follow him? What if Jesus really meant that we are supposed to follow his example, his spirit? What if Jesus literally meant that we are to value the people he valued and serve the people he served?

The way we live our lives – including me – doesn’t really reflect this reality. We seem to be quite okay with going to church regularly, going to Bible Study or small group, and then basically living our lives the way we have always lived.

Dallas Willard, looking at the modern church in America wrote: “One is not required to be, or even have to have the intention to be, a disciple in order to be a part of the church. One may remain a member without any signs of progress toward discipleship. Contemporary Western churches do not require following in Jesus’ example, spirit, and teachings as a condition of membership. So far as the visible Christian institution of our day are concerned, discipleship clearly is optional…churches are therefore filled with ‘undiscipled disciples.’ Most problems in contemporary church can be explained by the fact that members have not yet decided to follow Jesus.”

Yikes!

The call to discipleship is and has always been, “Jesus declared, ‘Come, follow me.’”

Have you made the decision to follow Christ?