read this blog...
listen to this podcast...
go to this conference...
listen to this music...
buy this book...
sponsor a child in Africa...
volunteer, go to church...
be in a bible study...
read your bible...
journal, pray...
...the list goes on and on.
How do you know if you are doing enough to be a good follower of Jesus?
We end up making it so complicated to follow Jesus that only the spiritual elite can make it. The scary thing is that the previous sentence is a perfect way to describe the Pharisees of the New Testament. In an effort to make sure that they were doing everything right, and wouldn’t possibly mess up, they added additional requirements to following God. In the process, they got so caught up in following all of the rules that they completely missed Jesus when he came. Not only did they miss him, but they conspired to kill him to keep him from disrupting what they had.
In one of the many interactions that Jesus had with the Pharisees, he was asked. “What is the greatest commandment?”
His response in Matthew 22:37-40 reveals the simple truth of what it means to follow Jesus. Love God and Love people.
These two statements can be used as a plumb line to keep us in check. All of the things described in that initial list can be good, but we often bump these good things up to the status of necessary requirements. So how do we keep things in check? Simply ask these two questions.
1. Love God – Is what I am doing right now helping me to love God more?
Reading the bible, going to church, being in a life group… these all can help us know God more and love him more. Whether it be, going on a trip or playing a game, whatever we do, ask the question is this helping or hindering my ability to love God more?
2. Love People – Is what I am doing right now helping me to love people the way God loves me?
The way I am driving, the way I interact with the people around me, the conversations I have, the comments I post online, ask the question is this showing the love of Christ to those around me?
As followers of Jesus our purpose is to become more and more like Him. We will mess up, we will make mistakes, we are not perfect. In our pursuit, we can keep on track as we ask ourselves these two things, is what I am doing right now helping me to love God and people more?