Who Will Follow Jesus?

There are many people who are fans of Jesus, but who will actually follow him? Jesus does not call on us to merely agree with his teachings: he calls us to live out his teachings in our lives. For those of us who were born into and raised in Christian circles, there is a grave danger that we content ourselves with merely hearing and agreeing with Jesus’ teachings without doing them. Do you remember the words of Jesus at the end of the Sermon on the Mount? He said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-27). Fans hear his words and will even praise the wisdom and brilliance of his teaching, but disciples–true followers–hear and do his teachings. The call of Christ is a call to action. It is a call to leave the world behind and follow our Lord in life, through death, and to life beyond. So, who will follow Jesus? Will you? The words of one hymn ask it this way: 

(“Who Will Follow Jesus?” Words by E.E. Hewitt, Music by William J. Kirkpatrick)