How Do I Become A Follower of Jesus?

We speak often of the need to reach others for Christ. Many desire that the new converts pray a particular prayer which, they are told, makes them converts. But, what does it really mean to become a follower of Jesus?

The initial commitment to follow Christ is a renunciation of the life alone and an invitation to walk in relationship. To receive Christ is to receive hope for genuine change and to begin the process of transformation in which we will “work out”[1] our salvation over the course of our lives. “A proper sermon should be like holding out to a child a shining red apple or to a thirsty man a glass of fresh water and asking: Wouldn’t you like it?”[2] To meet Christ is to meet someone who offers complete acceptance. Jesus looks at us with love, just as he gazed at the rich young ruler who came to him seeking the way to eternal life.[3] This love is not a sappy, overemotional feeling. Love is the perfect balance of grace and truth. Love without truth is sentimentalism. Love without grace is damning. The love that Jesus has, the love that is a reflection of the Father’s very essence, is perfect love that is equally truthful and equally gracious. It is a love that is the embodiment of Micah 6:8 – a love that does justice and loves mercy. It is the love that caused the Father to give “his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”[4] It is the love that reminds us that the Father “did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”[5] Jesus gazes at our lives with unflinching realism. He knows our sins and our brokenness. He is aware of our pride, our arrogance, our lust, our addictions, our hypocrisy, our lies and each of our secret sins. But in spite of our shame and in spite of our humiliation, he looks at us with love and offers to us the grace to accept his complete forgiveness and to walk in relationship with him and with others.

A new life in Christ is a new life together. It is the beginning of a great dance of love. It is more than a quick prayer, it is the beginning of life eternal.

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[1] Philippians 2:12.

[2] Bonhoeffer, Worldly Preaching, p. 88.

[3] Mark 10:17-22.

[4] John 3:16.

[5] John 3:17.