I have decided to follow Jesus!

I have decided to follow Jesus!

No turning back.

No turning back.

That refrain, from a song from one of my previous lives, sticks in my mind for some reason. I no longer even remember any of the verses. But the refrain itself, and I assume the verses, speak of Christian commitment….the decision to follow Jesus. As Christians, we have often heard and I have often preached, that we are called on to make a conscious decision to turn to the Lord….to believe in Christ….to follow Jesus.

Donald Miller, in his book Blue Like Jazz, which I am currently reading, gave me a new perspective on the idea of deciding to follow Jesus. Miller writes,

One morning I was sitting at the kitchen counter talking to Rachel about love and marriage….and I told her I was scared to get married because I thought my wife might fall out of love with me, suddenly, after seeing a movie or reading a book or seeing me naked. Rachel looked at me….and said very wisely and comfortingly, that when a relationship is right, it is no more possible to wake up and stop believing in God. What is, is what is, she said.

And that is when I realized that believing in God is as much like falling in love as it is like making a decision.

Miller’s comparison of believing in God to falling in love made me stop to think. I honestly can’t tell of a moment when I decided to believe in God….to follow Jesus, just like I can’t tell you of a moment when I decided to love my wife. It is something that just happened to me. It was, in both cases, a gift from God over which I had little or no control. All I could do was respond to it, to accept the gift and do something with it.

Our decision to "follow Jesus" is really no more of a decision than it is to decide to fall in love. God comes to us and gives the gift of faith…of falling in love with him. It is something that happens to us by the grace of God. Our decision is to respond to that gift and do something with it.

In Christ,

Pastor Knowles