| Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash
In the Gospel of John, we read in John 1: 10-13 how we start the journey of following Jesus. Following Jesus is not a religious thing, doing rituals and trying to do the right thing, but following Jesus is a spiritual miracle that occurs when we ask Jesus to come into our lives as our Savior and Lord.
“He (Jesus) came into the very world He created, but the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who BELIEVED HIM and ACCEPTED HIM, He gave the RIGHT (POWER) TO become children of God. They are reborn – not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a BIRTH that comes from God.
Salvation began with God, and He sent His Only Son to come into this world with one purpose; “To seek and to save those who are lost.” Jesus came and paid the price for our salvation when He died on the Cross.
But we have a choice! We can reject Him! We can ignore Him! We can resist Him! Or we can accept Him, receive Him and ask Him to come into our lives and be our Savior and Lord! The choice is up to each of us!
Salvation comes as we BELIEVE! We must believe that we are sinners and that we can do nothing to save ourselves from sin. We must BELIEVE that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But just believing that Jesus is the Savior is not enough.
We must also ACCEPT Him as our Personal Lord and Savior. Accepting means inviting Him into our lives and trusting Him as our Savior and Lord!
But then, we must start following Jesus! This is the relationship that we have with Him daily. This is where we learn to follow Him and learn to be more like Him!
If you have more questions about what it means to follow Jesus in real life, I would encourage you to get a copy of the book I co-authored: “The Journey of Following Jesus.” You can get them at International Christian Center or on Amazon!
When it comes to the journey of following Jesus, it is not how we start but how we finish that makes all the difference! We are all on the journey together!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Pastor Ronald Squibb has been the Lead Senior Pastor of the International Christian Church (ICC) at Staten Island, New York, since 2011. He draws many experiences from his over 40 years as a pastor and significant emotional life experiences.
His new book, Following the Journey with Jesus, which he co-authored with Daniel McNaughton, was recently published and is getting rave reviews. His daily devotional appears in this publication.
