What Following Jesus Looks Like

I was in a discussion a while ago that was pursuing the basic topic, “what does following God look like?” There was one side of the conversation that seemed to be arguing that following God makes things easy spiritually so that it doesn't matter if they are hard physically. I had heard this sort of thing before, and something about it never rang true, but I couldn't quite call it out. But something about the starkness and naivete with which it was said in that discussion (and perhaps some things I'm dealing with currently) finally helped me to put my finger on the error:

The reality is that following God can be just as hard spiritually.

Following God can look like waiting so long you wonder if God has forgotten his promises.

Following God can look like sacrificing your son.

Following God can look like being denied the goal of your life's work.

Following God can look like watching your wife die and being told not to grieve.

Following God can look like suffering abandonment by friends and shame before enemies

Following God can look like begging again and again for comfort and being told “no.”

And those are just examples from scripture.

And yes, of course there are the blessings in Christ – peace with God and forgiveness and family. But we need to be careful that these objective realities are not overlaid with rainbows and sparkles and made to be primarily about feelings. I am increasingly convinced that too many people say of Christianity, “it's not about the physical things you get, it's about the spiritual things you get,” but by “spiritual things” they actually mean “how you feel.” If we don't call that out, if we allow Christianity to be about feeling better, then we're still selling a product, and we're no better than those who are trying to peddle health and wealth. The life of the upside down kingdom sometimes sounds fun and hippy and radical, but the realities are harsh. Living means dying. Peace means suffering. Winning means losing.

I follow Jesus because he is the only master who loves me.

I follow Jesus because his are the only words that make any coherent sense.

I follow Jesus because his is the only endgame filled with hope.

But if Jesus is the one we follow, then we must be prepared for the fact that greatness and glory are only found after shame and suffering and anguish.