Yes! There is Good News! May 20. 2017

Picking up the last line of our previous article, we asked the question, “But what about this ‘following Him’? He was going to His death. Must we follow Him there?”
The Greek word used here for “follow” literally means, “To be in the same way or path so as to accompany.” Jesus used this word in saying that we must follow Him and be His servant: “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.”

Wow! I surely want to be where He is, but I’m not sure I want to suffer as He suffered. And yet, I’m not sure he gives us any wiggle room. We need to be on the same path so as to accompany Him.

In the book of Luke, Jesus says it this way: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”

Are we getting too deep here or is this really the way to follow our Savior? Well, one thing we know is that we do have a Savior. He gave His precious blood for our sins in order that we may have life eternal in His name. And we also know that there is nothing we can ever do to merit or earn this salvation.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians chapter 2, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this, not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

OK, you say that you have accepted the blood of Jesus Christ, repented of your sins and have undergone the waters of baptism as Peter tells us to do in Acts 2:38. What is this “following Him”? What is this “denying self”? What is this “taking up our cross daily”?

Perhaps we need to go back to the metaphor we looked at in our previous article. The scripture we were looking at was, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

I tell you the truth, yes the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. … Who ever serves me must follow me.”

Do you find the gift that God offers to us, His children, is worthy of our delight? Does the thought of spending eternal life with our heavenly Father and His Son fill you with joy and gladness of heart? Remember, Jesus, by His death, was to produce a tremendous harvest that is still bearing fruit today. Remember, all who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death (Romans 6:3). If you have undergone the waters of baptism, into the death of Jesus, then you have followed Him there! And so the question begs to be asked, “Are you bearing fruit?” Are you sharing this joy, this delight, with others so as to produce a harvest of righteousness for the glory of God?

Good news indeed!