I remember in school after we came back after a Christmas break, our teacher told us to discuss how we spent our New Year's Eve. I remember how big my classmate's eyes became when I said that I spent that night in church. Confused, he asked me: "What on earth did you do there? Pray?!"
New Year's Eve celebration in the eyes of my friend could not be related to the church in any way. In general, if you talk to people who are not that close to Christianity, they would tell you that church is pretty far from everything fun. Maybe this is because Christians often mention the idea of "leaving everything behind" which makes Christians basically fanatics in the eyes of other people.
How do you leave everything behind and follow God? What do I have to give up? And more importantly, why? If you were ever looking for the answers, you are in the right place.
Who Said That We Need to Give Up Everything?
If you read the Bible, you can see that Jesus is the one telling you to "renounce all". But if you study the Gospels closer, you will find that for the first time we see this concept in a different context.
"After this he [Jesus] went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him."(Luke. 5:27-28)
At the beginning of this chapter, you can read how with similar words Jesus called other disciples that later became part of the Twelve. And in the same way, the author tells us that they left everything and followed Jesus.
In response to Jesus' calling His disciples left everything. Other gospellers mention more details: they left their nets and boats (meaning, their jobs), and their father (their families).
Later on, during his sermon to the crowd, Jesus said: "So, therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33) and "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matt. 16:24)
So basically Jesus preached that if we want to be His disciples or followers, we not only need to leave everything that we have but also deny ourselves (and even take up a cross). Pretty strict requirements, don't you think? What for?
What Does It Mean to Be Jesus' Disciple?
Jesus lived in Judea in the first century. During that time the concept of discipleship was pretty popular in different societies. In a few words, some people would choose a teacher for themselves - some person with authority or teaching - and become his followers. This meant that they spent a lot of time with their teacher and tried to become like him, taking up on his lifestyle, doing what he was doing and the way he was doing it, and thinking the way he did.
Jesus' twelve disciples that I mentioned earlier had very similar lives. They were literally following Jesus wherever He went, lived and had lunch together, traveled together, preached and prayed together (though I think they did more observing than doing in this sphere). So basically, the disciples did everything to become like their Teacher.
In the Bible we also find mentions of Jesus having another 70 disciples that were not as close to Him, but still spent a good amount of time together, listening to and absorbing His teaching. These disciples were sent to preach in twos - just like in a missionary school.
So, transferring it to the modern reality, to become Jesus' follower or disciple means to strive to be like Him as much as we can. If you think about it, this is exactly what Christians all over the world promote. We always study the Bible and Jesus' teaching and try to adopt His way of thinking and acting. We often ask ourselves, "what would Jesus do?" Even my blog is called "Learning From Jesus" which just supports this idea.
But do we really need to give up everything? What does it even mean?
What Do We Need to Give Up And Why?
When I used to live with my parents, sometimes they would have to leave. Since I'm the oldest child, for that time I would have to "become a mom" for my younger siblings, taking up some of my mom's responsibilities. I always liked it but it also required some sacrifice.
For example, I always liked to sleep in, but on that day I would have to give up this habit and wake up earlier to make breakfast. After school, I would normally do my homework, but on that day I would have to put it off to help my little sister. Basically, to take up someone's role or become someone you would have to give up your own.
Do you see, where I'm going? To take up someone's lifestyle, you have to give up yours. If you want to eat healthy, you would have to give up your bad eating habits. If you want to be fit, you would have to give up chilling on the couch to go to the gym. In the same way, if you want to follow Jesus, you'll have to give up your habits, your lifestyle - something that He called "to deny yourself". For example, go to church instead of a party with some sketchy crowd, or read the Bible instead of watching Netflix.
Clearly, a Christian lifestyle would require renunciation of sin. Maybe you won't be able to get rid of all your sinful practices in one day, but you will definitely need to make a decision to stop sinning deliberately. The Bible says that light and darkness have nothing in common (1 Cor. 6:14), as well as sin can not have anything in common with following Jesus.
Another passage that I quoted earlier mentioned that we need to "renounce all that we have". I don't think it means selling everything you own and living on the streets - at least, not for everyone. But I know that it means shifting your attention from the earthly to the heavenly, to change your lifestyle to the one where wealth, possessions, and even people are not your main and only priority.
Of course, junk food and couch would win if you don't have enough motivation to lead a healthy lifestyle, and money easily becomes a priority when we don't have enough. In the same way, the sinful nature in a life of a Christian often takes over if we're not strong enough in our faith and our convictions.
Thus we come to the main question of this article:
How Do I Leave Everything Behind And Follow Jesus?
How would Jesus motivate us? In his gospel John quotes his Teacher: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15)
So simple and yet so difficult... Our main motive to follow Jesus and keep His commandment should be love! There are a lot of Bible verses that I could mention here but here's just one (also from John):
"We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19)
The example of perfect love can be also found in Jesus! He loved us so much that He gave up His life for us and gave us access to eternity. All we can do is to love Him in return and follow Him.
What do I do if I don't have enough love for Jesus in my heart? The same thing people would do to grow their love for each other. Spend time together!
The more time you spend in Jesus' presence, the more love for Him you will have in your heart. The more time I spend with God, the more I know Him and understand Him, so the more I love Him. This time I have when I'm in church, in fellowship with my brothers and sisters, in meditating on the Word of God, in prayer, in worship, in thoughts about God, in reading books and studying God's nature - and I could go on!
All this leads me to my third point: a lifestyle is formed through discipline. If you want to become a sportsman, one workout or even a week at the gym will not be enough. In about a month your motivation will decrease and this is where the discipline comes in. You start going not because you want to, but because you have to.
The same thing can be applied to Christianity: we can be inspired and motivated, but sooner or later our nature takes over. In those times you should rely on discipline. Sometimes you will have to read the Bible even if you don't find it interesting. Sometimes you will have to go to church even if you don't feel like it. I often hear the saying that "appetite comes with eating" and it also works in my spiritual life! Sometimes you have to make yourself start, but it becomes so easy to continue.
The main idea that would strengthen us in our weaknesses is prayer. Pray that God would support you in your desire to leave everything behind. It does not sound easy and it is not easy, but God is always there to support and strengthen you.
What Is in It for Me?
When I was little I saw a movie where the main character (named Chad) in response to favor would always say: "What's in it for Chad?" I understand that this is a basic trait of human nature to look for a reward for our efforts. This is why I'm not surprised to find out that Jesus' disciples had the same question.
Then Peter said in reply,
“See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”
Jesus said to them,
“Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
Matthew 19:27-29
Jesus said that our reward would be a blessing that is one hundred times more than the one that we think we have now. But the main thing is that we will receive eternal life and will become full members of the Kingdom of God (not just as guests but as heirs!). As for me, I think this is enough motivation to leave everything behind and follow Jesus.
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