Following Jesus - what difference has it made?

On her thought-provoking blog, GODSPACE (http://godspace.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/following-jesus-what-difference-does-it-make/#comment-6538), Christine Sine asked her readers’ thoughts on this question: “Following Jesus, what difference has it made?”

For me, as for CS Lewis, “I believe in God like I believe in the sun, not because I can see it, but because of it all things are seen.” Christ is the light by which I see everything else, giving me a reason to live and showing me how.

I reached a point a few years ago where God allowed some very painful things to happen in my life and opened my eyes to much of the pain and heartbreak that exists in this world. Before God intervened my life, and my faith, had been very self-focused. When Christ took me deeper into Himself, he also took me deeper into the lives of others. Since this point of growth, there have been so many painful, sickening days where seeing the reality of the pain that exists in this world has just been too much to handle. I’ve wanted to just give up: on God, on there being any purpose in this world. I’ve wanted to scream at the Father and run far, far away. And there are days where I’ve started running. But I’ve only gone a few steps before the Spirit gently reminds me of the words of one of Christ’s disciples long ago: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68) Even when I want to react to the pain in this world by being angry at my Savior, I am reminded that it is the hope of my Savior that gives me any hope at all. I cannot leave Him, because he has not left me. What do I have if not Christ? As horrible as things are now, He promises that He will make them GOOD. As desperate as I get at points, His promises give me hope. Without Him, I have nothing. No reason to have purpose in my work in this world, no reason to hope for anything more beyond this life.

But with Him, I can make sense of this hard world. “Deep calls to deep” (Psalm 42:7) and His truth resonates in my heart, even when my mind cries out against it. Knowing Christ, following this Savior, changes my entire perspective. Because Christ lived this pain, because He went through the worst horrors we could ever endure, giving His life for us in the process - and then because He rose victoriously over this horror in the end - I can have hope.

Because he showed us what a life of selfless love looks like, what a life of GOOD looks like, I can have hope. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins…No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:9-12)

Christ showed us that it is possible to spread love and redemption and beauty on this earth. This is why I cannot leave Him. Where else would I go? Who else can offer me this hope? It is this hope that has affected my entire life. As I daily know Him more, He opens my eyes to more of the pain that exists but also to more of His hope, His joy, and His Way of bringing healing to the pain. Because of knowing Christ I do not groan and despair like so many but am empowered by His Truth, by the reality of His redemption, to love like Christ loved and give His hope to others as He has given it to me. My life has purpose.

I can hope because what Christ has offered me is eternal: it enables me to look forward to a world without pain, death, or tears, giving me the strength and peace to love others now and share this hope with all I meet. I can ask “Why?” and receive the promise of future glory in return. This promise frees me from fear and enables me to think of others, living joyfully in this world and spreading Christ’s peace amidst a world of confusion and chaos.