Following Jesus

In theory, following Jesus is quite easy. He sums up everything he wants us to do in one simple command,

Love God, Love others.

It sounds simple. In fact, it's pretty easy to love God because He is so good. He has given me life and health and created the world. Because I'm so thankful to God, it's not hard for me to feel love for Him. But the way God tells us to show love for Him is to love others. 

Loving others, now that is a little bit harder. Loving people gets messy. Loving people is easy when those people are nice to me. It gets tricky when those people who I am supposed to love (everyone!) are hateful, rude, and just plain unloving. How do I love someone who treats me horribly? How do I love someone I don't even know? How do I love someone I don't even like? 

Jesus hasn't called us to be like everyone else, though. He hasn't called us to only do what we feel like doing or love who we feel like loving. He has called us to love 

Following Jesus doesn't mean that life will always be easy. We are told that we will be blessed for following him, but we are also told that sometimes we will go through trials. Some definitely go through more trials than others. It doesn't seem fair to us and I don't know the answer why. 

Yet, there is such beauty in following Jesus. My life is so full from following Jesus. There are times that it is hard. Sometimes I'd rather not show love. Often, I fail at showing love. But the wonderful news is that following Jesus means that Jesus will help to carry my burdens. What a comfort it is to know that in the hard times, I have someone SO much greater to watch over me. 

I hope you remember that enormous blessing that comes with following Jesus. Have a joy-filled weekend, friends. 

P.S. You can read another post I wrote about following God here.