…that doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth it!  Following our Lord does require some effort, however.

Now before I go too far, let’s be clear that I am not talking about earning salvation here; far from it in fact. Salvation is entirely by grace, and we couldn’t earn it even if we wanted to, no matter how bright and good-looking we might be… not even if we are always seen in the coolest of company wearing the latest fashions; it just doesn’t work like that.  Nor can we buy it by making large, well-placed  contributions. No, God’s forgiveness and the gift of eternal life come from a positive response to the Gospel.

Here we are talking about what comes next, the following Jesus part.  Am I saying that if we don’t do certain things, let’s try X, Y and Z again, will they suffice?  Well, sorry, there is no X, Y and Z here either.  Following Jesus is both easier and harder than that!

Oh dear reader, I have blogged on this over and over!  I did a series of posts last fall on both our journey and on discipleship.  Last summer, I did a series of posts on church growth, and they all really amount to the same kinds of things, but fear not, I’m not close to being tired of the subject, for this is THE subject!

There are many ways to follow Him, but the important thing to keep in mind is that we follow in response to all that He has done for us, which is to say we follow our Lord and reach out to His children in love  because we want to for we love our Lord, not because so and so made a list of “do’s” and rules we must follow.  I think this may be why some people find this a hard subject; oh why don’t they just give me a simple checklist?!

This might help you, I sure hope so.  There isn’t just a simple checklist, do these 17 things once a week and you’ll be fine, for the simple reason that there is nothing to earn here. Another possible reason is that we are all in different places, surrounded by different needs and we all have different gifts.  Besides, if I could finish my checklist faster than you, I’d probably run my big mouth about it!

This morning I proposed a theory. Now a theory might be right and it might be wrong, it might be useful and it might not be.  A theory provides a point to consider, ponder or study.  Through this considering, we can discover answers that might have eluded us before, and we can also find ourselves being led to a new place that He hasn’t previously led us to before. Oh yes, let’s take another of our little journeys!  Here’s the theory again in case you missed it:

Christian theology is not particularly difficult to understand.  Its precepts and premises are fairly simple, it was given to “regular” guys to share with the world, and they did it.  Yes, of course they had a lot of help from the Holy Spirit, but then so do we. Yet we love to argue, follow tradition and form to avoid spiritual growth and reaching out, because they are counter-intuitive, and the fact that they are counter-intuitive is exactly the point of all things being new, for our human intuition isn’t new, it’s the old thing that Jesus died to free us from.

This time I’ve added italics to help you ponder… Hope to see you tomorrow!