I’m sure you’ll agree with me, that the virtual “follow” culture we live in, is incredibly fickle. Not only does it take up so much of our time, dictate so much of our lives, but I have found that it can also frequently foster quite the superficial loyalty. It’s this surface level conviction that we can seem to subscribe to - where we find ourselves siding with different parties, movements, ideas and doctrines at a click of a button and then once our interest wanes, we get offended or the message no longer resonates with us, we can click off just as quickly.

All. The. Time

And if truth be told, this casually committed, let’s see how things go, kind of flow, can also be the sort of approach we sometimes choose to take, with our Christian walk. But that’s just not the kind of vibe Jesus calls us into, when we say yes to Him. On the contrary, He calls us to follow Him as servants. As disciples - and biblically, disciples are defined as learners, who are either curious, convinced or committed. Now, I can’t speak for anyone else, but I know the kind of disciple I want to be. I want to be fully committed. All. The. Time. I want to be the kind of disciple Jesus truly deserves to have. The kind of disciple, we see modelled in the Early Church.

Yet, if I were to be real with you, I repeatedly miss the mark of being the sort of disciple, Jesus calls us to be. You see, as much as we wax lyrical about being disciples for Jesus, in reality, our version of what it is to be a disciple, most often than not, completely short-changes Jesus. This is because, His definition of what a disciple is, is far costlier than we are often willing to pay for.

A lifetime membership of denying ourselves

You see, when we say Yes to Jesus, we are meant to be signing up to conform wholly to His example in living and, if need be, in dying. We are in essence, subscribing to a lifetime membership of denying ourselves - by forgetting, ignoring, disowning and losing sight of ourselves and our own interests. We are being enlisted into a lifelong loyalty scheme, of siding with Jesus’ party, continually, cleaving steadfastly to Him and taking up our cross daily; Of taking pleasure in Him, above every other relationship and completely losing our (lower) life here on earth, on account of Him.

Yet, the beauty is that if we are willing to actually be true disciples, and are willing to pay the price, it is this very forsaking of our ‘lower’ life here on earth, for our Precious Jesus, that will lead us to finding the ‘higher’ life ‘in Him’. It is on this narrow road, of leaving the broad wide path of the world behind, that true treasure will be found. True identity, validation and significance will be discovered. It is here, in pursuit of the only One, truly worthy to be followed, that true contentment will be experienced. It is on this often marginalised, persecuted and painful path of steadfastly clinging to Him, that the highest love and deepest intimacy will be attained.

The privilege of following

Yes it is costly. But it is nothing compared to the price, He paid for us. May we therefore be those who will gladly let go of every false loyalty to the things of this world, in order to follow hard after the Lover of our soul, the One who gave it all for us. May we be like Mary who broke open her costly alabaster jar and spent it all on Him. May we be like the disciples and martyrs of generations before, who shed their blood unto death, for the Beautiful One, the Servant King – Who is the greatest example, that we could ever have the privilege of following, not just in this world, but for all eternity.