I believe Jesus wants us more than anything else, we follow him.
It’s very easy to get all religious and get stuck up in some humanly acceptable practices as we desire to understand who Jesus is to us. I firmly believe that Jesus is not looking for our religious performance as much as some of them could be good, and even draw us close to Him. He’s looking for a broken and a contrite heart/spirit.
I’m continually challenged and guided by Micah 6:8. We are to Love Mercy, Act Justly and Walk Humbly with our God. Anything that doesn’t build on the above is our own making and doesn’t in any way draw us closer to Jesus. We ought to slowly learn how to love like Jesus, act like Jesus, think like Jesus and talk like Jesus.
This is not easy but if we follow Him and yield to His leading, He will teach us how to.
We are Human beings; we are created for fellowship but unfortunately, we have become human doings. Our identity is pegged on what we do, how we do it, where we do, and so we do and do and do… We scramble for titles as this makes us feel we belong to this world. When Jesus visited Mary and Martha, Mary chose what was better and as Jesus said, it would not be taken away from her. We may lose our capacity to do things, titles might be taken away from us. Woe unto you if you chose what is perishable, what is fleeting; here today and gone tomorrow, at the expense of what is eternal. What cannot be taken away from you.
In our pursuit to do things and more things, we have lost what is essential. We need to learn to focus on what is essential; following Jesus. No matter what religious persuasion you belong, at the end of the day if you love mercy, act justly and walk humbly with God, you are better off. The question then is how do you love mercy in a world full of hatred? How do you act justly in a world full of injustice and corruption? How do you walk humbly with God in this day and age when your worth is based on who you know, what you do, where you do it?
I’m not calling for me and you to stop living in this world, but what attitude/paradigm do we adopt, what do we want to dwell in more. They say if it smells like a skunk, talks like one, walks like one then most likely it is a skunk. The more we think and talk in a particular way, the more we behave that way and it becomes our habit to behave that way. So it has to start with our thinking. Whatever is lovely, praiseworthy, noble, think of these things. If you and I spend more time thinking of how we can love mercy, act justly and walk humbly with God, we will start talking about it/them and it might just become our way of life. If we think more of how we can follow Jesus, talk about it, chances are high we can have a habit out of it and it becomes our lifestyle. This calls for commitment and dedication. Making sacrifices and following through with it. Being accountable to a few and practicing with a few. It’s about building a community of followers of Jesus who are deeply committed to each other and desire to see each other grow in this journey. They have to create a support, encouragement and accountability platform for each other. The community has to be as small as possible so that there is active engagement by all involved.
Find a community around you and see if these conversations make sense to you…
By: Gabriel Odhiambo Achayo, AYLF Kenya - Country Coordinator
