“Trying to follow Jesus part-time or halfhearted is impossible. The relationship he wants from you requires your whole heart.”{Not a fan}
One thing that i have realized while on this journey is that I have been a “fan” of Jesus my whole life. While that sounds like it would be a good thing.. I have realized that I want more.
I want to truly be a follower.
While I was in Laos I met several Christians who loved and followed Jesus with such a passion and intensity it was incredible. In Laos persecution is still a very real thing, yet they were willing to risk everything they had in in order to follow Jesus. In Tacloban I met people who had lost everything not a month before and they were praising God for the life that they still had, and that He was still good.
Do I do that?
Would I follow Jesus if it meant that I could lose everything I had?
Would I praise Jesus even in the toughest of situations?
While in all these countries I have seen how on fire a lot of Christians are for Jesus. There is no middle ground for them, they are all in for the gospel no matter what the consequences may be. They have a love for Jesus that I see.. and that I hope people can see in me.
Take this world but give me Jesus
As a follower of Christ I am called to be bold, to step out in my faith and risk it all. Yet up until the race I was so content to stay in my safe bubble and never risk a thing. I had put a box around what I thought a relationship with Jesus should look like and not what it really is. It has taken me till now, month 9 to tear down that box, to truly be able to say that if all the earth were to fall away, that if I were to lose everything I held dear I would rest in the fact that I still have Jesus. If I take one thing away from this journey I want it to be that. To trust in Jesus with all that I have no matter what the cost.
I am called to take up my cross daily and follow after him. Its not going to be an easy journey, but it is going to be a journey filled with the satisfaction of truly following after him.
Jesus wants us to understand that following him is a pursuit that requires everything that we have.
How amazing is that kind of faith? To trust in Him with every situation, every struggle, every decision. We have become a people that trust in a “safe” God, we have put a box around our faith and don’t think that anything bigger can happen. Jesus is our healer, our protector, and our solid foundation. If we were just to throw caution to the wind and trust him with everything, how different would our lives be? Taking up your cross and following Him was not meant to be easy…
“All day long they pursue but when I am afraid I will trust in you, what can man do to me?”
{Psalm 56:1-2}
“Jesus beckons his followers to a path that is far from the easy road. It is a path filed with adventure, uncertainty and unlimited possibilities. The only path that can fulfill the deepest longings and desires of your heart.” {The Barbarian Way}
Life is but a breath, so why not give your all to the one that gave it all for you.
Take this world, but give me Jesus.
love,
Hanna
