What is a follower of Christ?
What does it mean to be a Christian, a follower of Christ? Every ounce of who we are must be given to God without exception. St. Paul, in speaking about what it meant to be an apostle, said this, “For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ sake; but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless, when persecuted, we endure, when slandered, we try to conciliate, we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the dregs of all things.” 1 Corinthians 4:9-13
We currently live in a world where true Christians must allow God to live through our eyes, our ears, our mouths, our arms, our legs, our feet, our very lives, so he may be revealed in us and to the entire world. No one wants to suffer, yet Christ suffered for all, so that all might know God. Can we do any less in our generation to win as many souls for Christ as possible? What are we willing to give up, so Christ Jesus is truly Lord? This is a question we must wrestle with, until all is surrendered to Jesus’s lordship. St. Paul went on to say, “I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” St. Paul preached the gospel to all he encountered in hopes of bringing all to Christ. We must understand that. He was not perfect and he says that many times, but he endured until his death to both preach and write about the life of God. By following Jesus, he brought many to Christ, who became his children in Christ Jesus.
God wants to use you to reach a world hungry for the truth. Will you give yourself to God and let him use you? Pray and reflect upon this and let God live in you!