Sometimes religious life is portrayed as soft and cushy, where we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and everything we ever dreamt of falls into our laps—a sort of “they all lived happily ever after” scenario. This thought process is encouraged in books and movies that depict Christians as having perfect lives. Everyone gets along, and the priest or pastor has all the
answers.
Jesus, however, was a realist. Jesus knew that even after giving our lives to him, we would need to navigate a broken, hurting world and, as such, be prepared to face a myriad of challenges. There would be hard decisions to make, in which our faith would be tested, and discipleship would come at a cost.
In other
words, there are no shortcuts in Christianity. There is, however, an abundance of God’s grace, given through Jesus, who comes to live within us if we accept him.
The choice is simple: follow Jesus, giving ourselves completely, so that we may receive the eternal reward of finding our true selves in Jesus. Or not following Jesus and finding out that what we thought was sparkly and great is, in fact, short-lived
and leaves us completely lost.
Choosing between the two is not just a decision for a priest or pastor. It is a choice every person has to make.
Have you decided to let go of everything and follow Jesus?
Can you identify those things that are getting in the way of this
commitment?
