Scattered thoughts and confessions on Christianity
Christianity is hard! Who knows how to follow Christ? Do you? Tell me!
I think I am frustrated. I feel like I have been trying to "act like a Christian" rather than being a follower of Christ.
And I don't know what it means to follow Christ. When Jesus calls his first 2 disciples, Simon (who they call Peter) and his brother Andrew, Jesus simply says follow me. And they immediately stop what they are doing and follow him. Same with most of the other disciples - James and John the sons of Zebedee, Matthew the tax collecter, are who come to the top of my mind.
But we don't have that option of following Christ - at least in the physical sense. He died along time ago. So we can't follow him around and learn from the physical person of Jesus Christ of Nazereth.
But then, how are we to follow someone who we can not see with our eyes, hear with our ears, touch with our hands, or experience with any of our actual senses?
"Blessed are those who believe but have not seen", Jesus says. But for a lot of people in the Bible, seeing Jesus' life, his miracles, the way he interacted with others, the way he demonstrated love and truth, is what led them to believe in Him. But today, we can not SEE these. So we have The Bible which we read from in order to learn about who Christ is and who God is. But this is not the same thing as seeing his example. We are left with a 2nd-rate exposure to learn about him and how to follow him.
What else? Jesus says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." So how do you deny yourself? Deny yourself of food, pleasure, self-desires? All of them...? How do I take up my cross? I don't have a physical cross to take up (what is this allegory?) - surely he doesn't mean a physical crucifixion. And follow you..? We'll I already went into my questions about following you. How Jesus!? You are not here to follow.
Maybe a clue into what it means to follow Jesus is when he says, "You are my disciples if you love one another". And "this is my command: that you love one another". So to follow Christ (be his disciple) is simply to love others? Can you not love others apart from Christ?
I think I am frustrated. I feel like I have been trying to "act like a Christian" rather than being a follower of Christ.
And I don't know what it means to follow Christ. When Jesus calls his first 2 disciples, Simon (who they call Peter) and his brother Andrew, Jesus simply says follow me. And they immediately stop what they are doing and follow him. Same with most of the other disciples - James and John the sons of Zebedee, Matthew the tax collecter, are who come to the top of my mind.
But we don't have that option of following Christ - at least in the physical sense. He died along time ago. So we can't follow him around and learn from the physical person of Jesus Christ of Nazereth.
But then, how are we to follow someone who we can not see with our eyes, hear with our ears, touch with our hands, or experience with any of our actual senses?
"Blessed are those who believe but have not seen", Jesus says. But for a lot of people in the Bible, seeing Jesus' life, his miracles, the way he interacted with others, the way he demonstrated love and truth, is what led them to believe in Him. But today, we can not SEE these. So we have The Bible which we read from in order to learn about who Christ is and who God is. But this is not the same thing as seeing his example. We are left with a 2nd-rate exposure to learn about him and how to follow him.
What else? Jesus says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." So how do you deny yourself? Deny yourself of food, pleasure, self-desires? All of them...? How do I take up my cross? I don't have a physical cross to take up (what is this allegory?) - surely he doesn't mean a physical crucifixion. And follow you..? We'll I already went into my questions about following you. How Jesus!? You are not here to follow.
Maybe a clue into what it means to follow Jesus is when he says, "You are my disciples if you love one another". And "this is my command: that you love one another". So to follow Christ (be his disciple) is simply to love others? Can you not love others apart from Christ?
Christ said this to Thomas, who had to feel Christ's wounds before he would believe that Christ was raised from the dead:
"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
John 20:29
Posted by
Dan Reiter |
10:50 PM