Why do you follow Jesus?

Faith is not about you

Posted by Eliehoenai on August 12, 2017
"[Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness."
-Philippians 2:6-7

The question of a person's testimony often appears as a sacred topic in Christianity. The details of how exactly someone came to follow Christ may exhibit common threads with the stories of others, but they are more specifically unique to the individual. Coming to believe in God, the most important decision one can make, logically brings a lot of weight with it. Yet all too often, we focus not on God Himself, but on what He has done for us. And in all honesty, an outsider can easily deny such a story. People teach that your testimony, apparently a story of how you once experienced God, is irrefutable, for who can deny what you yourself experienced? But the problem exists in exactly that - you and you alone experienced it. Anyone else can simply choose not to believe that God was involved. They can write off the moment(s) as only seeming that way to you, when in reality whatever occurred was mere happenstance. You simply viewed that moment through a certain lens that made it more powerful. Perspective changes everything.

In (perhaps American) Christianity, we teach that people need Jesus. This is very true. But the danger lies in explaining that we should follow Him for what He has done for us. Most visibly, He died for our sins. However, I do not follow Him because He died for me, I follow Him for being the only one who could die for me! Following God for who He is rather than what He has done makes the case for accepting Him all the more adamantine. No one can deny what Jesus did. God Himself came as a servant. In this we see His perfect nature, something that truly no one can deny. It is not about perspective with this but facts. Surely people can deny that Jesus was who He said He was (e.g. John 8:58-59), but, again, the question here involves faith rather than perspective, for even a person with faith could deny that God was involved in one's testimonial story of what God did for them. In fact, even I have heard stories attributed to God that more seem like someone forcing on God what was a random, completely normal event. Do not interpret this as a statement that God never interacts with us in powerful ways - He does.

As a further point, following God for who He is solidifies your faith. Despite what anyone may claim, Jesus will not solve your problems. You may be stressed, depressed, sick, any number of negative things. Jesus will not take that away. But that does not matter in the slightest. He is God. And He came to serve. Is that not enough to follow Him? Because if you instead follow Him for all He does for you, for the joy that He brings, for the so-called burning in the bosom, He becomes irrelevant when you realize that life so easily steals it all away. No one likes a broken promise. However, in God's nature no broken promise exists. Therefore, if we follow Him as a result of who we know Him to be, we will never face disappointment.

Why do you follow Jesus? Well, it's because He is God Himself. God, who saw the twisted nature of the world and yearned to lead us to what is right and good. As a result, He personally came down to visit us. Not only that, but He sacrificed His life in humility despite possessing power over death and the ones who killed Him. When I see this humility, His love, His agony, I know that He deserves to be served. I also know that no one could be worthier of service. God is good, and moreover, He is greater than anyone or anything in existence. Ironclad. Irrefutable. Fact.