WHAT IT TAKES TO FOLLOW JESUS

 

TEXT: 1 John 2 vs 15-17

 Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father. ¹⁶ Everything that belongs to the world—what the sinful self desires, what people see and want, and everything in this world that people are so proud of—none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world. ¹⁷ The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away; but those who do the will of God live forever.

This is going to be a very long post. I plead with you to read it patiently to the end. I normally don't like making long posts but I have to when it comes to this issue of what it cost to follow Christ. God has laid it in my heart to share this with you and I know there is something in it He wants you to gain from this post. ONCE AGAIN, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO PATIENTLY READ THROUGH.




You cannot be a friend of the world and be a friend to God. Following Christ is not an easy thing to do but every bit of it is worth it. Following Christ means you can't do what others are doing., You can't go to places where others are going, you can't drink the things others are drinking and much more will your decision to follow Christ restrain you from.

Following Christ involves denial of self-pleasures, denial of following what your body wants, denial of doing what people expects you to do. Following Christ involves living for others and not yourself. It involves sacrificing your time, your money, your efforts etc just to ensure there is a smile on the face of others (especially God's children).

No man should deceive you to think that following Christ is easy. You will receive lots of abuses simply because you are not doing what every other person is doing. Lots of criticism will go with your actions once you make up your mind to follow Jesus with all your heart. The world cannot love you when you follow Christ. Don't be surprised my dear, the world didn't love Jesus either (John 15:18-19).

Though lots of self-sacrifices goes with following Christ, nothing pays more than being willing to pay those sacrifices in other to follow Him. Every suffering, self-denial, abuses, criticism is worth it when we look at the glory that lies ahead of us as children of God. Nothing in this world can be compared to spending eternity in Heaven with Christ and nothing is worth more than living to please God.

I sometimes wonder why so many are carried away with the pleasures of this world. So may are involved in all sorts of evil things just to make money. Some even goes as far as killing a fellow human. WHAT A DISASTROUS THING THE LOVE OF MONEY HAS DONE TO THE WORLD!
All this earthly riches, power, fame and pleasures will pass away someday but one thing is sure, God's people will live for ever.

I beg you reader, nothing is compared to your soul. Remember what the bible says, "what will it profit you if you gain the whole world and lose your soul" (Mark 8:36, Matthew 16:26). You can't follow the things your eyes wants and please God. You can't pursue the things that counts and matters to people here on earth and please God. Remember, we are in the world but not of the world (John 17:16).

Finally, I encourage you to make pleasing God and valuing what He values your priority. The pleasures and glory that awaits us in eternity is beyond our greatest imagination. Sit down and count the cost (Luke 14:28-33) and decide to follow Jesus. Tomorrow may be too late, TODAY IS YOUR DAY. Don't miss this opportunity coming your way