![\"\"](\"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Simple-But-Never-Easy-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn a recent sermon, our pastor said something to the effect that\u00a0Following Jesus is\u00a0Always\u00a0Simple\u00a0<\/i>B<\/i>ut\u00a0Never\u00a0Easy.\u00a0<\/i>It was a very good sermon. The simple part was\u00a0trust<\/b>.\u00a0 The part that wasn\u2019t easy was both\u00a0trust<\/b>\u00a0and taking up your cross and\u00a0follow me<\/b>.<\/p>\n
We talk a lot about what we believe. By that, we\u00a0often\u00a0mean a system of theology. Statements dealing with what we believe is truth\u00a0about the Bible, God, Jesus and Salvation. Some of that can get quite complicated and theologians of various groups have argued for centuries without coming to a conclusion\u00a0on some of it.\u00a0 When Jesus said we were to believe\u00a0it was not to accept a systematic theology or a certain list of dogma. It was basically to believe that he was the Messiah, God in the Flesh and to trust him.\u00a0Trust\u00a0<\/b>was related to an action,\u00a0Following Him<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Much of the time we feel pretty smug thinking that our particular group has the right belief system.\u00a0Which often results in a \u201cwe have it\u00a0but that other group doesn\u2019t\u201d attitude.\u00a0 Us and Them. We baptize\u00a0the correct way!\u00a0We dunk them and hold them under \u201ctill they bubble\u201d as the comic said. Those others just dribble\u00a0a little water\u00a0on their heads\u00a0so we are not really sure it counts.\u00a0We are\u00a0even\u00a0better than the group who dunks them three times.<\/p>\n
I am Baptist so you know which one I follow. But does it really matter? I know that will make some of you mad. But far more important than which\u00a0belief system we believe\u00a0in or how we baptize\u00a0is the question of whether we are TRUSTING and FOLLOWING JESUS.<\/p>\n
Christianity is far more than a belief system. It has to do with Jesus and whether or not we trust him and follow him. We may have all the correct theology but Jesus wants\u00a0us\u00a0to live in a loving,\u00a0trust\u00a0<\/b>relationship with him. That\u2019s simple. We can make it complicated and\u00a0can\u00a0miss out\u00a0on the essentials.\u00a0 Much of the time when we talk about \u201ctrusting him\u201d we are talking about trusting him to get us to heaven not about what we are doing today.\u00a0 Trusting Jesus has to do with our daily everyday life and that trust translates into following Him.<\/p>\n
Jesus` invitation to the disciples\u00a0based on trusting him it was\u00a0\u201cfollow me<\/b>\u201c.\u00a0 It could be restated as be with me, be my traveling companion, be involved in what I am involved in. Again an invitation to an ongoing relationship.<\/p>\n
I can imagine the adventure of it. The disciples get up in the morning and ask one another, where do you think Jesus will take us today? I wonder what we will get to see him do today. Maybe he will heal someone, or feed some people. Every day must have been an adventure. If they got too comfortable\u00a0and settled in\u00a0they may have missed something because Jesus had moved on and they had not followed.<\/p>\n
Jesus was constantly on the move. They had to follow to have an ongoing experience of Jesus. Not only were they on\u00a0a physical journey of following Jesus.\u00a0Primarily it was a spiritual journey of following Jesus. Jesus was showing them what life was like lived in relationship with God.<\/p>\n
Sometimes I forget that journey aspect\u00a0of following.\u00a0The disciples were constantly in a new place with new circumstances and worse, new ideas. Constant change.\u00a0I don\u2019t like that. I want to get comfortable, settled in familiar places (Physically and Spiritually)\u00a0with ideas in concrete. When I do that, I am not following. Jesus is someplace else, doing something new, showing me what God is like, giving me new ideas.<\/p>\n
That is why following is not easy. To follow Jesus Spiritually I must give up my comfort. Give up my preferences. Get out of my rut. Get off my butt and exert some energy, open my mind(Maybe read a book that challenges my ideas.) and go where Jesus is going or I will be left behind.<\/p>\n
One of the problems I have is that Jesus goes to people and places that make me uncomfortable.\u00a0If I am following Jesus I have to go there also.\u00a0I\u00a0prefer\u00a0people like me. Jesus loves people like me but he loves people very different from me. I find it hard to believe but someone told me he even loves Republicans and Democrats, Methodist and Catholics, Liberals and Fundamentalist, Muslims, Hindus, Atheist.\u00a0He even loves\u00a0that\u00a0man\u00a0that shot my dog.\u00a0(I really don\u2019t have a dog but that was as mean an act as I could think of).<\/p>\n
What am I to do?<\/p>\n
I have to decide if I am following Jesus or picking my own route\u00a0and people. If I pick my own route, I am not following Jesus and will miss out on all the lessons he has for me about the God that loves me. If I pick my own route, place or people I am \u201cplaying christian\u201d not really being one. I may go to church\u00a0on Sunday, teach a Bible class or even preach a sermon but if I am going\u00a0down\u00a0my own path and not following Jesus, I am not really trusting him regardless of what I say about my faith and what I believe.<\/p>\n
To be a Christian means that I trust Jesus to pick the path for me and then follow Him.\u00a0Loving those he loves.<\/p>\n
A prayer I often hear is \u201cJesus be with us\u201d. We miss the point. Jesus is not to be with us. We are to be with Jesus. We trust and follow him. He doesn\u2019t follow us on a path of our choosing.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a belief system. It\u2019s not a bunch of religious stuff.\u00a0 It is trust and follow Jesus.\u00a0That is simple, but not easy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a recent sermon, our pastor said something to the effect that\u00a0Following Jesus is\u00a0Always\u00a0Simple\u00a0But\u00a0Never\u00a0Easy.\u00a0It was a very good sermon. The simple part was\u00a0trust.\u00a0 The part that wasn\u2019t easy was both\u00a0trust\u00a0and taking up your cross and\u00a0follow me. We talk a lot about what we believe. By that, we\u00a0often\u00a0mean a system of theology. Statements dealing with what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions\/201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}