Luke 9- What Does Following Jesus Look Like?

Every night, by the time I sit down to read, I feel like I am having doubts about it all. Is God really telling me anything? I keep thinking he is, but is he really? Does he really want my family to do some of the things we think he wants us to do? Are we just crazy? And every night I read something else that confirms it for me—yes, he is telling me something, he wants us to do some things that may look crazy and may not be easy, and no, we are not crazy for following him. Today there were two particular statements in Luke that reminded me, yet again, of these things.

I’ll start with verses 23-25: “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?’”

To truly follow Jesus with everything in us involves denying ourselves. We can choose to wrap our lives up in material things—houses, cars, electronics, money, clothing, you name it. But when our eyes are focused on the things of this world, that means we’re not giving Jesus our full attention. It’s just like what I posted yesterday, the people who hear God’s word but are “choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.” We could have lots of money and nice things, and the power and prestige and popularity that seem to come with those things—but at the end of the day, would we still feel empty inside? Would we still feel like something was missing? I am being reminded over and over, so I will keep saying it over and over—if we do not have those things, and are not consumed by trying to get them, we can fully focus on God and pursue him and really live.

Then Luke 9: 57-62 says, “As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me go first and bury my father.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Yet another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’”

I’ll be honest, that’s not exactly easy to hear. Jesus is reminding those who want to follow him that it isn’t going to be the easy, comfortable life they’re used to—he doesn’t even have a place to live. And then there are the people who say the infamous words that I have uttered myself: “Let me go first and…” or “I will follow you, but let me first…” I know I’ve done this, and I know I’m still doing it, as much as I try not to. I don’t think Jesus is saying that we should just say to heck with things like our families, and I don’t think he’s saying we’re hopeless and pathetic if we don’t immediately drop every single thing. I think he’s pointing out that at some point we have to stop making excuses for why we can’t follow him right now, and that even the most important things in life are still not as important as following him. And I think he knows that it will take some people more time than others to get to the place where they are spiritually “ready” to leave everything to follow him—and it is important, I think, to be in that place because to follow him wholeheartedly means there is no room for longing for the way things used to be.