It looks like  a bunch of you took those last two posts very seriously. You’ve been calling on God, asking Him to come into your lives and show you how to do things His way.

I am so happy for all of you. Jesus asked you to take a huge first step — one for which most people don’t have the guts — and you took it.

Congratulations! Good job!

This isn’t one of those “Everybody is a winner; there are no losers” things. Reaching out to Jesus is a huge, huge deal.

Thing is, it’s the first of many huge deals in store for you if you want to follow Jesus.

“[Jesus] went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.” (Mark 2:13-14)

Like that crowd of old, you sought Jesus out. He spent some quality time with you, taught you some things, and then, He said, “Follow Me.”

Every one of you said, “No way.”

And you were doing so well!

In the space of a few days (a few minutes?) you went from this: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10) to this:

“I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.”

Whatever Jesus asked you to do, however He asked you to follow Him, you decided that you know better than He does.

Think about it:  What do you really believe? Who knows better, you or Him?

I get it. I’ve been there and done that: Jesus asks you to do something and it’s invariably something you promised yourself or someone else you would never do. Your pride is at stake.

What will your friends say? Worse yet, what will your enemies say? What will you say to yourself when you wake up in the middle of the night wondering what you’ve set in motion and how it will end, knowing there’s no going back?

Fact is, you can go back. You already have be refusing to do what Jesus has asked of you.

This is what’s waiting for you back there: “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (II Peter 2:20-22)

Sounds like you’re caught between a rock and a hard place.

That’s what the world — all your friends, fans and trusted advisers — would tell you. Jesus has more accurate information: “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.” (Matthew 21:28-32)

What will happen if you repent and go to work for Jesus? Persecutions, shore, but something far more lasting and powerful. Wait until you read this: “For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in [Jesus] will not be put to shame.”(Romans 10:11)

And this: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.” (II Peter 2:4, 9)

That’s right: If you believe that Jesus is God — which means that what He asks you to do has to be done — you never have to be ashamed. Instead of being punished for persecuting somebody else, your haters will be punished for persecuting you — for real; I’ve seen it in action many times.

Persecution is inevitable. Question is, do you want to be persecuted by fallible, vulnerable humans or by God Himself?

A life without shame, deliverance in trouble, and this: “Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 10:29-30)?

Sounds good to me, but I’m not you.

You’ve seen both sides of Jesus — the justice/punishment side and the mercy/protection side. Question is, which side do you want to keep seeing?

Don’t tell me; tell Him.