Following Jesus.

Matthew 11:28-30
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

I've been thinking about following Christ and an interesting perspective popped into my head. Usually when we follow the leader, it's only for a short time before we go back to normal; we might agree to their callings in order to get a project completed, for example. When all is said and done, we easily go back to leading our own lives.

However, when we follow Christ, it needs to be a long term reality. We follow him to be more like him, not just to say we did it for a few days only to return our self-reliance. The difference here is that we must give up everything in order to follow him. There's no "I'm kinda following Jesus" stepping stones.

As followers of Jesus, we understand that we constantly receive blessings even at the roughest times and that we have a reservation in eternal life with God. While it is difficult at times, that fact of life is never going to vanish into thin air. Just remember, when things aren't easy, God intends for that to happen to teach valuable lessons. Best of all, when our life here on earth is done, it's just the beginning of our eternal life with our Lord and Savior.

Thank you Lord for the things you bless us with each day. May we see Jesus as the only way to a real, genuine life.