The best life you will ever have is going and DOING things with Jesus. Years ago, Schlitz beer used to have a commercial that proclaimed, “You only go around once in life, so grab all the gusto you can get!!” I could not agree more. But getting drunk and gaining 30 pounds is not my idea of gusto.
The men who followed Jesus definitely lived a life of “gusto”! They preached, saw miracles happen, witnessed thousands of lives changed, and planted churches all around the known world. They definitely lived a life of passion and zeal. It was anything but boring.
Jesus called followers then and now to a life that was exciting, but it had a price. Some did not want to pay the price.
Luke 9:56-57 NASB As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
I can still hear the unspoken words today, “Jesus, surely you do not want me to be UNCOMFORTABLE, do you? I am supposed to get all I can out of life, right??” No! Jesus said you cannot serve mammon (pursuing wealth) and Him. He will bring you to a decision where you have to choose. “Hey, wait a minute, I did not know it was going to cost me something… I just wanted to go to church!” people say.
Advertisers spend billions and billions of dollars to get you to buy stuff you do not need and cannot afford, just to impress people you don’t even like. Living a lifestyle of uncontrolled desires, over drafted bank accounts, comparing ourselves to others…is this what life has become? Too much BLING!
America is more in debt than any other country on the planet, and yet with all this buying, so many are still not happy!
Jesus said, “Come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” That means a life of great experiences. But there will always be something hindering that call. Usually it is a reluctance to get involved in anything that would cost time, money, emotions, that overtime pay at your job, or TV/Internet time.
There is a cost to serving Jesus. It means you will serve people and they are “messy”.
Luke 9:58-59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”
Jesus calls us to live a different kind of life. And it will cause family pressure. “You are not going to leave Grandma’s church denomination, are you?” There will be pressure to conform to some family ideals and traditions. If we yield to those, we miss God’s purpose for our lives. But if you choose to follow Jesus into the life He has for you, after all the conflict is over, your family will remember that you are the real deal, a follower of Christ. What better legacy could you leave them!