Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.
--John 12:26a
There are days when tagging along with Jesus is like a walk in the park on a pristine day; there's a spring in your step and gratitude in your heart. "God's in His heaven, and all's right with the world" comes to mind.
But then comes news that a friend has a 90% blockage in the heart's artery. An oncologist uses a word like "metastasize". A retirement portfolio is slashed in half during an economic downturn. Fear starts tagging along, and a good walk can be spoiled rather quickly.
Serving Jesus -- in all kinds of different capacities -- is a good thing. It has the benefit, at times, of pulling us out of a preoccupation with self and all of the frettings and fussings that tend to go with it.
The rubber hits the road, however, when it comes to following Jesus. Following is fine when we enjoy a glorious sunset. It's a different thing when we face betrayal, isolation, rejection, and a looming cross. To borrow a phrase: Jesus has "been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt."
I'm confident when I say that there is nothing that we will face in life, as we follow Jesus, that He isn't only too aware of. He's been there, and His resurrection is proof that at the end of the following, at the end of the road, there is joy!
PD
(Check out "Amazing Love" on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dooif2-yAoI&feature=related )
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