The past week has been full of a lot of rest for me, which came suprisingly. I was sick for a few days. Then, others on my squad got sick, and we had to quarantine for a few more days. Thankfully, we are all feeling better now.
During this time, the Lord led me to really evaluate where I stand with Him. He led me to the following question: What does it mean to follow Him?
I was taken back to a book I read as a kid, “Not a Fan” by Kyle Idleman. Idleman challenges readers to not just be a fan of Jesus, but truly follow Him. He describes how Jesus calls us to both belief (John 3:16) and obedience (Luke 9:23).
However, we often choose to focus only on the belief. The question we ask others and ourselves is “Are you ready to die?” but rarely do we ask “Are you willing to die?”
God sent Jesus to help us with both questions. He made a way for us to spend eternity with Him, and He also commanded us to follow in His footsteps while we live on earth. His footsteps lead to the cross. We are meant to live a life of dying daily. A life where, by the power of the Spirit in us, we love others and serve others as God did. We get to wash people’s feet, and we also get to die for them.
Dying daily means we “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).
Practically, this command looks different for everyone. For some, it means giving up your cherished “free time” to serve at church or with a local charity. For others, it looks like telling your friend or coworker about Jesus. For me, it means being present for those around me and serving in ways that go unnoticed. For all of us, God is calling us out of our comfort zone and routine. He’s asking us to surrender even more than we did before, whether it’s time, money, or energy.
We have the joy of laying down our lives for Jesus! It’s not easy, it’s not comfortable, and we mess up a lot. But, praise God, it’s not about us! As it says later in Philippians, it is God who is at work in us (2:13). It’s not about us trying get better at putting others first, it’s about us surrendering and allowing God to do all the work and get all the glory.
For our obedience is a reflection of who we believe God to be. If we truly believe God to love us to the point of dying for us, we become willing to love Him to the same extent.
I ask again, Are you willing to die for Jesus? If not, who/what do you love more than Him?
