FOLLOWING JESUS – Part 2 of 2

Jesus said, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”  (Luke 9: 23)

The first two words of Luke 9:23 immediately stand out: “if anyone.” The word if leaves room for doubt. You certainly can choose someone or something else to follow. But that’s your decision, the promise of finding yourself with meaning and purpose doesn’t apply. If also indicates that every convert or new disciple must make the choice to follow Jesus. While we make that decision at the point of repentance and salvation, we also make it at crucial times in our lives and make it every day. That’s why Jesus used the word daily in verse 23.

Choosing the life that Jesus offers also involves choosing a way of life – a life of self-denial and submission... We don’t just amble our way into discipleship. We make a conscious decision to live by faith. We agree to join others who are committed to following Jesus rather than trying to lead Jesus. We fundamentally give up the right to run our own life. In other words, you can follow your heart, your dreams, your gifts, your personality profile, and seek the right fit. But all that is inferior to following Jesus. 

-- Bill Hull in “The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ” 

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FOLLOWING JESUS – Part 1 of 2

How do we know God lives and works in us? I think the answer comes from Jesus’ basic call to discipleship in Luke 9:23-25: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”

Beyond calling us to follow, Jesus also described the nature of the commitment that we need to follow Him. My whole life is the answer to Jesus' call to follow Him. He calls and I answer, not just in words, but in the action of following. George MacDonald noted, “Instead of asking yourself whether you believe or not, ask yourself whether you have this day done one thing because He said, ‘Do it,’ or once abstained because He said, ‘Do not do it.’ It is simply absurd to say you believe, or even want to believe in Him, if you do not do anything He tells you.”

When I answered Jesus's call with my whole life, I make myself His disciple at once. Deitrich Bonhoeffer said, “Only those who are obedient believe and only those who believe are obedient. Faith is only real in obedience.” 

-- Bill Hull in “The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ” 

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BIBLICAL JOY

"The fruit of the Spirit is… joy…" (Galatians 5:22)

We live in a sad world -- a world of despair, depression, lack of fulfillment, and dissatisfaction. Man defines happiness as an attitude of satisfaction and delight based upon present circumstances. He relates happiness to happenings and happenstance. It is something that can't be planned or programmed. 

Biblical joy consists of the deep and abiding confidence that all is well regardless of circumstance and difficulty. It is something very different from worldly happiness. Biblical joy is always related to God and belongs to those in Christ. It is the permanent possession of every believer -- not a whimsical delight that comes and goes as chance offers it opportunity. 

A good definition of joy is this: it's the flag that flies on the castle of the heart when the King is in residence. Christians can know true and lasting joy. 

A Christian's joy is a gift from God to those who believe the gospel, being produced in them by the Holy Spirit as they receive and obey the Word, being mixed with trials with a hope set on future glory. 

-- John MacArthur (1939-2025) in a sermon entitled "Joy and Godliness: The Epistle of Joy"

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OUR GUIDING LIGHT

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”  (Psalm 119:105 NIV)

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12 NIV)

Jesus is the beacon of my journey through life. When fears and doubts, misunderstandings and rejection tend to darken my path, I can always depend on Him to be my guiding light. At times He guides me gently like reflectors on the road. At other times a low beam headlight will amply illuminate the way. Sometimes I will need the high beam for cosmic vision. Whichever way it is, no followers of Jesus will every walk in the darkness. Like David prayed, “make Your way plain for me to follow" (Psalm 5:8). He will surely show you His way if you ask Him to. 

-- Joseph Matthews 

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TODAY’S TWO ROADS

Our daily map offers two roads: one of joy and one of worry. Both carry us toward the same destination -- the end of the day -- but they shape us differently as we travel. Worry fixates on what might happen, draining our strength with imagined futures and burdens we were never meant to carry.

Joy, however, meets us in the present. It doesn’t promise certainty or offer guarantees, yet it reveals itself in small, surprising ways -- moments of mercy, beauty, and grace that appear almost out of nowhere. Joy is drenched in possibility, inviting us to live the day we’ve been given rather than fear the one we cannot see.

Both roads lead to the same sunset. But only one allows us to arrive with a heart that has actually lived. And here is the quiet truth Scripture keeps repeating: God is found on the road of joy, not the road of worry.  Not because He abandons us when we worry, but because worry blinds us to His nearness.

Jesus said, “Do not worry about tomorrow… each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34 NIV) He wasn’t dismissing our concerns -- He was inviting us to walk the road where He is most clearly seen.

-- Based on a quote by Ray Waddle in “The Upper Room Disciplines 2001”

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