What it means to follow him
Photo by Beth Macdonald
There is a troubling confusion afoot.
For so long, people have said things like this: that we need to believe in God. That we need to accept Jesus, perhaps even accept him in our hearts. To get saved. To have faith (in a general way). Things like this.
Jesus pretty much never said these things. But he did give very clear instructions about how to respond to him.
He said to repent, to be baptized, and to follow him.
These commands are similar to the stuff mentioned above. But I think the things people often say are actually more toothless, and what Jesus says has more weight and power. Here's why:
To repent means to change. To turn around. To change one’s mind. To change one’s heart. To make a 180. To leave things behind to adopt something else instead.
To be baptized is to submerge oneself in water to enact a cleansing and a death. A burial. But also a new birth. We come out of the water as a spiritually new creature.
To follow him is then the response to repentance and baptism. We no longer follow our own heart, or someone else, or the world, or any other spirit. We follow the leadership of Jesus and do the stuff that he says to do. We make him our master. Our lord. Our king. This is what it means to “believe” in him.
I'm afraid that intellectual belief with our minds on its own is insufficient. As James (who was the brother of Jesus) said, even demons believe and tremble. The devil and other evil spirits believe the historical information about Jesus. Actually, they know and have met him.
They haven't repented, though. They oppose him.
I just want you to be clear on this because you might hear Christians say one thing about accepting Jesus, but Jesus invites you to die to yourself in order to have true life. He says repent, be baptized, and follow him.
