How many people do you follow? Seriously, take a moment and check your social media sites and see how many people you follow in total. Hundreds? Thousands? This age of social media has redefined what it means to follow someone. You follow a person simply by clicking a button; it costs you nothing and it only means their posts show up in your feed, or at least what the website’s algorithm will allow you to see. You can even follow someone and then hide their posts so you never have to see what the person you are following is doing or saying. It’s possible we’ve taken this new, diluted way of following people on social media sites and applied it to following Christ. We say we are Christ-followers but maybe we’ve blocked anything Jesus says out of our daily routine. Maybe when you decided to follow Jesus you thought it would be as easy as clicking a follow button. Let’s put the social media definition away and look to the Scriptures for what it means to really follow Jesus.

“‘If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.’” (Luke 14:26-27)

It’s more than just clicking a button. If you want to follow Jesus then you have to give up your own way. You don’t get to do things your way anymore. It’s not “your way or the highway”—it’s your way or His way; there is no other option. Jesus says we have to give up our way of doing things and that we have to hate our own lives when we compare our feelings about ourselves to our feelings about Him. This is all part of denying ourselves. This comparison of feelings extends to everyone in our lives: our parents, our siblings, our spouse, even our children. If we compare how we feel about anyone to how we feel about Jesus, our feelings should equate to hatred.

“Then He said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.’” (Luke 9:23-24)

The next thing we have to do to follow Jesus is to take up our cross daily. This too has possibly been diluted by our society. Jesus did not mean putting on a cross necklace or a Christian bumper sticker or a shirt with a Christian message on it. Remember, at this time, the cross was not a symbol of salvation, it was a symbol of the most painful and humiliating death anyone could face. So to take up your cross daily means to die, daily. Jesus is furthering the message of denying yourself by telling the crowd they must take up their cross daily. Every day, you die to yourself and you live in Christ. It’s not easy to do, but we’re called to love God with all of our strength, not just some of it.

“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)

“‘If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.’” (John 15:18-19)

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Following Jesus also means the world’s hatred. It’s not about clicking a button and getting likes or being part of the popular crowd or riding the momentum of the moment. Following Jesus isn’t checking boxes or scheduling time for Him in your life. It’s giving your life over to Him, forfeiting your rights for His will. Following Jesus will cost you everything. So, not using the world’s definition of follow but instead using Christ’s, are you following Him? 

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

—Redeemed