Follower of Jesus

"The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obligated to act accordingly." -Soren Kierkegaard

Wow. That is exactly what I do. I have been reading stories about Jim Elliot, Corrie and Betsie ten Boom, Mother Teresa, and Amy Carmichael. These folks gave up everything to follow Jesus. Their relationship with God was on a whole different level. God was the lover of their soul and they gave up everything to serve him.

Their stories got me to thinking about my own relationship with Jesus. I long for my relationship with God to be on that level. I want Jesus to be the lover of my soul. I long for that more than anything. There is a big step I must take, but it is something very simple. I must give up everything. There is only one thing that stands in the way: myself. My flesh is my biggest enemy. I know what I must do, but I don't want to give up those selfish desires.

I have only met a few people who were TRUE followers of Jesus. We may love Jesus, but our flesh still rules. We like our way of life. We've let things slide a little, or a lot, and we want to keep it that way. God couldn't possibly be asking us to give up those things, right? That means we would have to change our way of life. We don't want that! I know what God is asking of me, and yet my flesh fights it every step of the way. Who rules your life?