Following Jesus Is Costly and the Very Best Thing We Can Do

Jesus is blazingly honest about the cost of following him. We can no longer follow ourselves, or be driven by our prideful or self-indulgent desires. We submit our wills to a greater, phenomenally brilliant will, and accept His assignments for our day, and our life.

His assignments, “the cross”, so to say, involve the discipline necessary for growth, rather than neurosis, in Carl Jung’s phrase. It’s the discipline necessary to maintain our health and an orderly household, and develop our gifts and fulfil our calling.

Following Jesus is, of course, not incompatible with goals or ambitions, but it does involve surrendering them to Him. We no longer own our work; God does! And the pursuit of what Tim Keller calls counterfeit Gods: “money, the seduction of success, the power and the glory,” merely exhausts us for nothing. That particular ladder has no end, and our restlessness remains, until as Augustine of Hippo rightly wrote, our heart finds its rest in God.

Besides, as C. S. Lewis points out, the rewards of following Christ are staggering, despite the call to the cross--peace that the world does not give; the fullness of joy; living water to quench our restlessness, living bread for inner life, light for our confusions. And occasional guidance to the one fish which has a silver coin in its mouth, and occasional thousand-fold multiplication of the fruits of our labours. Following Jesus is tough, but worth it, a thousand times over!!

My memoir: Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India UK USA

Blog: anitamathias.com

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My book of essays: Wandering Between Two Worlds (US) and UK

Transcript

Jesus is blazingly honest about the cost of following him. It’s our

most brilliant, golden choice, though it does means we can no

longer follow ourselves, and our self-indulgent or prideful desires. We

dance instead to his other-worldly, life-changing music, asking at each

transition point of our day or life, “Jesus, what is your assignment?

How do I do it your way?” And we accept the sacrifices necessary to

beautifully live the particular life God has given us, with its responsibilities.

and boredoms, to develop our unique gifts, and to fulfil our unique calling.

For me (descriptive, not prescriptive), shouldering my cross includes

eliminating sugar and starchy carbs (to lose excess weight!), not

watching TV (extreme!), endeavouring to keep my house and garden

organised and pretty enough, and using internet blockers to limit time

spent on social media or news sites. And, also, taming my anger and

outspokenness! And refusing to sing a song of worry, or linger in anger,

training myself to sing instead a song of trust, praise, and gratitude.

While following Jesus is meaningful, electric, and joyful, following

ourselves could entail ruining our health with addictive foods, caffeine,

overwork, or the siren-call of our phones. Following Jesus does not

mean relinquishing our goals and ambitions, but surrendering them

to Him. We do not own our work; God does. And so, we must repent

when we overwork, get too intense about success, or try to impress

others with it. For competitive cravings for success, fame, money,

or popularity wreck relationships, and mental, spiritual, and physical

health, and never satisfy, for the ladder of success has no end, and

climbing it means exhausting ourselves for nothing. We’re still restless.

You have made us for yourself, Oh Lord, and our hearts are restless

until they find their rest in you, St. Augustine wrote. If we do not try

to obey the Great Commandment: to love God, and Christ’s second

commandment:  to love our neighbour as ourselves, we could, one day,

open the treasure box of our lives and find only ashes. Nothing!

C.S. Lewis writes, “Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day, submit with ever fiber of your being. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”  

Following Jesus means discipline, and staggering rewards.

The restlessness-quenching streams of the living water

of the Spirit flowing from us. And Christ himself, living bread,

to help us feel alive inside, not dead.  Besides, He occasionally

guides us to the one fish with a silver coin in its mouth,

or shoals of 153 fish when we’ve laboured fruitlessly for decades.

And, sometimes, he converts our water to wine, and multiplies

our efforts a thousand-fold, giving us, in his phrase,

all the things non-believers run after. Jesus, following you

is so worth it. Spirit, help us to do so. Amen.