If you’re looking to be comfortable while following Christ, then you need to read this. If you’re looking for your best life now in material terms while following Christ, then you need to read this. If you’re seeking prosperity in material terms while following Christ, then you need to read this. If you’ve decided how your life should go and you just need God to bless what you’ve decided while following Christ, then you need to read this.
You see, if any of the above describes you there is a strong possibility you’re following your own image of Christ and not the Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible. This is the Christ that the apostles and Christians throughout the ages followed.
Jesus Christ went to the cross for us. The early Christians understood that there was a price to be paid for saying his name, following him, and declaring that, “Jesus is Lord.”
Initially, those early disciples where shut away, staying among themselves. Then, emboldened by the Holy Spirit they went out with the message of salvation. They were persecuted but their conviction and experience of Jesus’ sovereignty, the salvation they had received in him, and his message of the good news of the kingdom made them strong. The conviction and experience were so deep that they were willing to endure persecution, even to death. Being comfortable, looking for their best life in material terms, seeking prosperity in material terms—these were the last things on their mind. A look at their lives suggests that what Paul said of himself was true for them:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:19–20).
Following Christ to the Cross
Galations 2:19–20 is more than giving Jesus Christ a position in your life, such as first or second. This is Jesus Christ being your everything for whom you give up everything to take on his life. Following Christ means that you die and Christ lives in you.
Historically, Christians have done this and have been persecuted. Because they have the posture of dying to self and allow Christ to live in and through them, they would not compromise on who Jesus Christ is. This continues to this day. Your Christian brothers and sisters are literally going to the cross, being brutalized, watching their children brutally tortured and killed in front to them. Yet, they will not deny Jesus Christ. And, you want to be comfortable? You want life to be a bed of roses?
Why do you expect that God is there to make everything easy for you? What did Jesus say to and about those consumed with this world’s goods?
And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15).
And you know, I don’t have any particular person in mind as I write this. However, as I look at the landscape of Christianity, our preoccupations and our prayers, something important is missing. What is missing? A zeal for Jesus Christ. There is no cross. There is no weeping over the grief that has overtaken others and may yet overtake us, as Jesus wept. There is instead a running from the cross to the nebulous horizon that promises a mirage.
If you’re following Jesus Christ, there is a cross overhead. Get over it or stop the sham and just admit it – you want a comfortable god and you’re not ready to die.
Get Closer to God and Live with Greater Confidence and Peace
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