Meeting Jesus and Following Himنمونہ

SALVATION IS A PROCESS IN CHRIST Let’s come back to the fact of following Jesus, because being saved is not a one-off act, it is a process in which we are engaged and that we pursue by walking with Jesus. It is surprising to see that when we look through the Gospels, there are several people who met Jesus, and then return to their old lives. Take for example the young rich man who left full of sadness (cf. Matthew 19 :22) or again when Jesus healed ten lepers : only one of them came back to thank and worship Jesus (cf. Luke 17 :15). Salvation is lived out day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute etc. By meeting Jesus, we have entered into a life of adventure and fullness, however, we need to continue to follow Him, it is a lifelong path with God, knowing that the final reward has already been offered to us : eternal life to reign with Christ (cf Ephesians 2 :6-7). One day somebody said that there are only two options : either Jesus is Lord of EVERYTHING, or He is not the Lord of everything… And it’s so true : we cannot walk half with God half without Him. Not only is it uncomfortable, but we get the worst of both. Those who live like this don’t find their place in the world, because they feel good that they don’t belong to Him, but they also don’t feel good in Church because they feel accused and judged. And often times they aren’t. On the contrary the other Church members love them, but it is their impression because they are not fully walking with Christ. And so, to be a disciple of Christ is to choose to follow Him, abandoning everything that would hinder our walk with Him. It’s what Jesus says when He tells us to take up our cross (cf. Mark 8 :24) and the author of Hebrews says the same thing slightly differently in Hebrews 12 :1-2. Let’s always be vigilant to not let anything stop us in our walk with Christ. Why do so many people, once their body or emotions have been touched, not choose to follow Jesus ? They are happy to rejoice about what God has done for them without wanting to go any further. We need to understand that we can have met God without our lives being completely transformed by His power and His love. God doesn’t only want to heal, restore or bring more to the lives of people, He desires to enter into a relationship and closeness with us and that this intimacy will grow deeper as we regularly spend time with Him. We shouldn’t be happy to just meet with God or with what He could give us, when He wants to give us life and life in abundance, now, here on Earth and for eternity. In the above text, the blind man in a Jericho had a coat. It was all of his wealth, his fortune, his security, it was his cover to help him keep warm at night and it was also the mark of his identity as a beggar. The only colour in his life without light. But, when Jesus approached him, he made a significant gesture : he threw aside his coat and left it. In doing so, he was letting go of his past securities, of his identity as a beggar in order to engage in a walk of faith, and so demonstrating that he didn’t just want to gain his sight to be a better beggar. He wanted to see his life entirely changed in order to identify with the life of a disciple of Jesus. The blind man in Jericho had something to lose, but he knew that his coat had no value compared to a life with Jesus. It is our closeness to Jesus that allows us to see things differently. In the same way for us, when we meet Jesus, nothing is able to compare to His life and His love or able to prevent us from living in His fullness. Nothing is more precious than His presence, as King David declared, better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere (cf. Psalm 84 :10). Wanting to profit from Jesus’ miracles without following Him, is to take Jesus for who He is not. It is to believe that He is only a simple healer, or a prophet, or a good man, without having received the revelation of who He really is : the Son of the living God, the living bread come down from heaven who came to give His life for the world. REFLECTIONS : Being saved is not a one-off act, but a process in which we are engaged and that we pursue by walking with Jesus. Read Mark 10 :46-52 and Philippians 3 :14 and take a moment to answer the following questions : ➤ In your opinion, why did the blind man follow Jesus along the road ? ➤ In Philippians 3 :14, what goal does Paul want to reach ? MY DECISION : What I have understood for my own personal life : What I am deciding to do in my life based upon what I have just learnt : What you decide to do today will determine who and what you will be tomorrow ! Adapted from "un disciple en marche" copyright 2018 by Luc Favre, published by Vie Victorieuse. All rights reserved.