No Equation

I was reading a book review on Amazon.com, and I saw numerous comments such as, "(blank person) shows what it means to truly be a Christian," or, "(This person) lives the way all Christians should."

Somehow that rings wrong. And I think this person would probably agree with me here. Following Jesus does not mean leaving your home and living in some third world country and healing the sick and teaching people jobs and raising orphans. It might look like that. But it doesn't necessarily mean that. Following Jesus does not mean living in your hometown all your life, getting married, having 2.5 kids, working in an office every day. It might look like that in your life, but that isn't what it means.

So what then does following Jesus mean? It means a lot of things. Above all else, it means loving Jesus first. And that means wrestling, it means saying yes to Jesus above what your old self tells you, it means trusting what you know to be true versus what you feel, it means not settling for your dreams and ideas of your life but looking to the greater, fuller, marvelous dreams that God has for your life. It means you look for direction, take one step, wait to hear the next step, and then you walk once more. It means you work in a bank all day if that is where God leads and it means you take care of that money with a smile on your face and a song in your heart because you know the God you serve. It means you attend university if that is where God leads you and you study and learn as much as you can with all your might because you are in God's plan. It means you choose hard things, you sacrifice your last 20 dollars because you know that your money is not your own but it is God's. It means you live with anticipation, knowing the end of the story and blessed that you get to see how it unfolds. It means that yes, people drive you insane, but you are not content in that so you run to Jesus with those feelings and thoughts and you praise that His power is made perfect in your weakness.

Following Jesus is a complex thing. It is so simple when you get down to it, yet it is so hard when you are constantly battling your old self (even though that self is already dead and gone). But through it all, through the struggle and overwheming-ness and exhaustion and crying out to Jesus, God is looking on in delight, because He loves us. He loves making us new. He loves revealing Himself to us through these things. He loves that we did not choose easy and chose Him instead. He loves watching us come to terms with what it means to follow Him, and He loves revealing His plan to us. He loves teaching us to love Him more. He loves teaching us what following Him looks like! And that, that is what it means to follow Jesus. There is no formula, no equation, no check list, no answer key. But what we have is better than that, because we have God Himself.