Lessons in Following Jesus

In case a week in Puerto Rico wasn’t enough of a vacation, I returned to New Jersey just in time for a two-day retreat with the EG staff.  Although it was a bit intimidating at first to go on a trip with people I barely knew, it was a great opportunity to break the ice! 

Getting to know the staff at EG showed me a lot about what it looks like to follow Jesus.  On the one hand, these intercessory missionaries are regular people.  Casual conversation reveals that many of them love bacon, like music, and sometimes find prayer to be boring.  But on the other hand, their lives contrast drastically to the lives of other people, and even other Christians that I know.  Their job is prayer and worship.  Their staff meetings are a combination of prayer, sharing, and interpreting prophetic dreams.  And their career is far from the American dream: complete dependence on God to provide partners who will support them financially (as opposed to relying on their own abilities and career to bring in a steady income) and lack of a fancy title or prestigious position in the eyes of the world. 

These staff lay down the comforts of life to follow Jesus.  During the retreat, I got to know people who reverse their entire schedule just so they can pray when the rest of the world is sleeping (which also happens to be the time when most crimes occur).  I saw people experiencing real suffering for the sake of the gospel.  A couple who lost their home.  A man whose parents refuse to acknowledge his career choice because it doesn’t match up with their plan for his “success and prosperity.”  A group of guys living in a home infested with spiders.  And others who were not suffering circumstantially, but who described the pain of God stripping away their selfish desires and the burden of His heart for the millions of lost people in the region.

You might read this post and think these people must be doing something wrong.  Following Jesus is supposed to bring prosperity, right? Wealth, success, happiness… But actually, that’s not what Jesus says.  Yes, He promises joy and peace, but He also demands that we carry our cross, which is the highest form of suffering.  (“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple…whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26, 27,33).  I think the verse is pretty clear that followers of Christ forsake EVERYTHING.  What have I given up for Jesus?

I used to think suffering was only for Christians across the world.  I hear about them being brutally killed in Iraq and other places, but that doesn’t happen here.  However, the Bible says that if we really model our lives after Jesus, we will suffer, and this summer, I began to see the truth in this statement for the first time.  For the staff at EG, much of this suffering stems from the rejection of man which naturally occurs as they live out the truths of the Bible and walk according to God's direction for their lives.  People don’t like a gospel of dying to self, of one way, of turning the other cheek, or of judgment, but that’s our gospel (I'm not forgetting grace and love, but those things tend to be much less offensive).  People don't like a lot of what the Bible says, but we either have to forsake the need for approval of man or stop calling ourselves disciples.  We cannot follow Jesus AND the wisdom of the world.  

This is not a minor thing.  When we stop living for people, they often stop supporting our decisions, and that hurts: emotionally, financially, and relationally…But maybe that’s what it takes to know God more.  "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persectued the prophets who were before you" (Mat 5:11-12). I want to be willing to suffer for Jesus.  To forsake everything.  Help me, Lord.