To Deny Yourself.

What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus in a secular world, in both the broad sense and to you specifically? 

To be a follower of Jesus in a secular world is to literally follow his ways. Not in a nonchalant way, but with a sincere and genuine heart of why we follow him.  To make decisions that are Christlike. 

Living in this secular world, God calls us to be be different; to live outside of the norm. In order to follow Christ we need to step out of our comfort zone and do as he does. This doesn't mean to act as a crazy person, but that we might be viewed as different or crazy because the things that Christ does is unusual in this secular world. To be willing to sacrifice.

I believe that being a follower of Jesus in a secular world means to " deny themselves."
"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it." (Mark 8:34-35) 

A Follower of Jesus in the Secular World

Being a follower of Jesus is to be a Christian (by definition since Christian= follower of Christ) and to act the way and have the heart of Jesus. More specifically, like the game follow the leader. Jesus would be the very first leader and the leader of the whole world and universe, and all of us would be his followers, soon becoming leaders wherever and acting the same and going to where he would go. By leaders, I mean encouraging others to join the line of leaders and leading them closer to Christ. Acting the same, as in having the heart that Jesus has by genuinely loving others through him. And by go, I mean new experiences and places where you could reach out to people, not like literally going where he went. And of course doing all that Jesus did is nearly impossible, but I feel that all we could start off by being deeply rooted in God's love. If our hearts are deeply rooted in God's love, like Jesus', our actions will reflect what's in our hearts.  

       

My march with the cross

   The meaning of walking with God through this world is a painful one. You have to be ready to be criticized about what you believe in. Non-Christians will persecute but we must forgive. What this means to me personally is that I have to keep my heart close and my arm stuck out to filter the gunk in this world. Listen but take everything with a grain of salt or even the whole salt shaker.

Life with Jesus

To be a follower of Jesus in a broad sense is to follow in His footsteps. Live a life crucified with Christ, a life Jesus lived. It is easy to be a follower of Jesus at church or at a retreat or any place that feels spiritual or holy. But in a everyday environment, it is much harder. It is very hard to be the same person I am at church to my behaviors at school. So in a broad sense, live a life with Jesus. Personally for me, Jesus said in the Bible love others as yourself. So I follow Jesus by loving others. I try to love those who don't receive love from others, even though it is hard sometimes. Jesus loved on the people that people rejected, and I think God gave me a heart like that. I don't seem to be too interested in people who everyone already admires. But I tend have an interest in the people that are alone or are ridiculed. So loving people God wants to show love to is what I believe is my way of following Jesus.

Going the Extra Mile

In many ways during the internship, I learned that being Christian is hard, especially in the secular world that we live in. We can't just go about preaching the Word and spreading the Gospel out in the streets. Rather, we need to be living examples of Jesus wherever we go, however subtle it may be. Because Jesus has done so much for us, we can't help but to take on a little burden and work harder than other people when encountering the world. Our motivations and ultimate goal are different than those who don't follow Jesus and even our purpose in life is not the same. Following Jesus in this secular world means that in every situation possible, we can emulate Jesus in some sort of way. It means that wherever you are and whatever you do, you always have a constant reminder in your heart of why you do what you do, which is to serve the Lord and glorify His name.