What it means to follow Jesus

4Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (2 Corinthians 6:4-10). NIV

23Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). NIV

I think that more things probably happened to Paul that any other person in the Bible. He went through a lot of stuff. However, it all could have been avoided if he wasn’t following Christ. It was because of his love for Jesus, that he went through all he went through. The question is, are we required to do the same? Well, I think that is up for you to decide.
We are very fortunate to live here in America, where we can freely practice our beliefs and religions. In other countries in the world right now, today, even this minute, someone is being killed, martyred in the name of Jesus. This is still happening today all over the world. Of corse most of us are so wrapped up in our chaotic lives that we don’t take the time to realize it. I would be willing to bet that every war that has ever been fought could somehow in some way be linked to religion.

However, that is not the point of todays blog. None of us will ever have to endure what Paul endured because we believe in God, and consider Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That doesn’t mean that we will never endure hardship because of our beliefs. As Christians, we will always have to deal with being made fun of, or laughed at, or being called names. I am sure that there are some out there who have suffered a beating or two, and maybe even a few that have been killed because they claim Jesus as their King.

I personally have been very fortunate in my life, I have not suffered more that a few name callings and a few laughs because of my faith. In hight school my nicknames were either bible banger, or preacher boy. I actually didn’t mind it so much. But, that doesn’t mean that I don’t suffer. Let me walk you through a typical day in the life of Mitchell.

My day starts every morning, 7 days a week at 6am. Monday to Friday I spend 5 minutes doing a quick devotion with my wife before she goes to work. Than I make myself some coffee and do a devotion, and study the bible until my kids get up. On the weekends, my wife and I don’t do a morning devotion together, but I am still up at 6am, I make my coffee and go straight into my devotions. My kids get up anywhere between 7am and 7:30am, so the longer they sleep, the more time that I get to spend with God in the morning. The point is that I give God the first part of my day.

When the kids get up, I spend the day with them. I feed them breakfast and lunch, I get them dressed, I take them on outings at least 3 days a week. We play games, read stories, and I am basically just a Dad attending to my kids needs all day.
At 3:00pm I leave to go to work. I work from 4pm to 12:30am. By the time I get home and get to bed it is 1:30am. I sleep for 4.5 hours and than I get up at 6am and I do it all over again. And I want you to know that I don’t regret any of it, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

In my very first blog “Prayer and Accountability,” I talked about how anything that you put before God is an idol, and what is the first commandment found in Exodus Chapter 20? You shall have no other gods before me! If you are not finding time to spend daily with God, than you are putting everything before God. I do my reading in the morning not only to put God first in my day, but that is when I can make time for him.

So what’s my point? My point is one, I do make time, and two that I suffer sleep because of my relationship with Jesus. People often ask me how I can live on 4.5 hours each night, and my answer is always, “I can’t.” Theoretically my body should be warn out and I should get sick but I don’t, and I will tell you why. Because God is good, that’s why. God knows, that my wife and I are working opposite shifts to save $14,000 a year in daycare costs, and as the head of my household, I will do what ever I have to do to provide for my family, and if that means only getting 4.5 hours of sleep each night, than so be it. God blesses me for that, and that is why I can do what I do without getting warn out. Please understand that I do get tired, and I do enjoy naps in the afternoon, and I do enjoy getting 9 hour of sleep on my 2 nights off, but the bottom line is that God is blessing me and my body for what I am doing.

We all have to make sacrifices if we are going to whole heartedly follow Jesus. But, if we are going follow Jesus, than we have to do it all the way, we can’t do it half butt.

What sacrifices have you made to follow God? What kinds of hardships have you had to endure? We will never suffer like Paul did, but if we aren’t suffering in something, than we don’t have a need for God. God puts us through hardships to bring us closer to him, and in the end, who cares what other people think. We only have a short amount of time on this earth, so you have to decide if you want to live for Christ or if you want to live for Men. If you do want to live for Christ, things are guaranteed to be more difficult, the the reward for your loyalty will be eternal.