“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” – John 10:10

This is the glorious truth the world tries to twist, distort, and turn upside down!!! It’s Jesus Who provides rich, abundant, eternal life, the life you were created to live. When you embrace Jesus, He offers extraordinary life from that moment onward – forever. He unites Himself with you, loves you, strengthens you, calms you, corrects you, and transforms you (if you’ll let Him). Your sins are forgiven, your guilt and shame are washed away, and you can live as God actually intended for you to live – in a holy manner that enjoys deep and never ending relationship with Him.

Abundant life isn’t about having lots of money, stuff, or endless physical comfort or pleasure. Those things provide the illusion of abundance but don’t nourish your soul and don’t last. They are often the tools used by the devil, the thief, who comes to rob human lives of purpose, dignity, meaning, and the deeper pleasure of friendship with God. Abundant life is about have living water flowing through you in the Holy Spirit. It’s about having a glorious purpose here on earth as God’s royal ambassador, the opportunity to do the amazing good works God has prepared for you to do, and a glorious future in God’s presence forever. It’s about a life of peaceful, joyful, fellowship with God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It’s about being new creation in Christ, free of guilt and shame.

Such abundant life is freely available through faith in Jesus. He is the ONLY way to true, lasting, abundant life. #FollowJesus

“They answered him, ‘You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?’ And they cast him out.” – John 9:34

Not everyone will appreciate your personal story about what Jesus has done for you. That’s OK! For a man who’d been blind from birth, his personal testimony that Jesus had miraculously healed him was unacceptable to the religious leaders. The truth of Jesus’s power and identity was a threat to the established religious order and they set out to silence anyone who talked about the real Jesus. They lied and said terrible, hurtful, false things about the man. They cut him off from his religious community. The same may happen to you if you are “all in” for Jesus. Be prepared!

Admirably, the man kept talking about Jesus. He knew what Jesus had done for him and he knew that nobody had ever done anything like it before. Though the once-blind man had no formal training or education, he just kept telling his Jesus story. The more he told it, the better he understood Jesus. He was eventually thrown out of his synagogue for telling people about Jesus but it was worth it. He gained something far greater than being accepted in his religious context — he met Jesus and ultimately gained eternal life as he worshiped the Lord.

Don’t let anyone stop you from seeing or talking about the real Jesus of the Bible. Not secular authorities and not religious authorities. Tell the true stories of Jesus – His kindness, His power, His teaching, His truth. Tell those stories even when it’s unpopular with those in authority and nobody seems to be listening. Be willing to accept the earthly consequences in order to receive the eternal blessings. #FollowJesus

“From the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I”
– Psalm 61:2

God the Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit. Our Triune God is the Rock higher than we! He is the Rock that pours out living water in a desert. He is the Rock that follows His people and provides for their needs (1 Corinthians 10:4). Whenever your heart grows faint, weary, overwhelmed, or afraid, cry out to God and let Him lead you to Himself. When you are at the end of yourself, stop trying to rely on yourself! Call out to the Lord Jesus. Ask Him to lead you to the Rock higher than yourself. He will!

God is the one enduring, unbreakable, unshakable rock. Run to Him for shelter and protection. Build your life on Him as your solid foundation. When everything else in your life is dissolving, the Rock can be trusted. Cry out to Him, pray to Him, surrender yourself to Him. Turn from any sins and confess them to the Father in the name of the Son. Let go of anything and everything that holds you back from the Rock.

Stop standing on yourself, your ambitions, your plans, your talents, and your resources. #FollowJesus up to the Rock that’s infinitely higher than yourself.

“I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” – John 8:24

Jesus isn’t beating around the bush!!! He’s profoundly concerned that we understand that the default destination of every human being on earth is eternal separation from God in Hell. That’s what it means to die in our sins. Why is this true? Because everyone has sinned and sin is rebellion against God’s holy and rightful rule over the universe and their lives. Condemnation isn’t God’s special judgment on people – it’s every person’s default reality from birth. God is holy and we aren’t. Rebellion against God, which we’ve all participated in, warrants condemnation to the place that is utterly and eternally apart from God. This isn’t unfair, as some people foolishly claim. It’s absolutely, perfectly, terribly fair.

People need to break out of their foolish earthly mindset and actually hear what Jesus is saying. Everyone, no matter how nice they seem, is headed to an eternity apart from God by default. Unless they believe in Him, they will die in their sins. Unless you believe in Him, you will die in your sins. Jesus came to rescue people from this path we’ve willingly embraced, restoring us to a relationship with our Creator. And He made it easy – we just need to believe in Jesus – crucified and resurrected – and make Him Lord of our lives.

Jesus did all the work necessary to save us – we can’t and don’t add anything to what He accomplished on the cross. We just need to believe. So does every person you will encounter today. Do they? Will you help them to believe? #FollowJesus

“After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” – John 6:66

Following Jesus is hard for us. You might argue that Jesus made salvation easy – after all, we just need to believe in Him to receive God’s grace. That’s wonderfully, gloriously true. However, it’s also very difficult for people to accept because it means we can’t possibly justify ourselves. God’s grace requires us to stop trying to save ourselves, confront and admit our wretched sinfulness, and embrace God’s one and only path to life. We hate that!

Following Jesus is also hard because after we’ve embraced His grace, He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our personal cross of sacrifice daily, and obey His commands and example. Jesus invites and commands us to a blessed, Spirit-filled life of self-denial. Jesus invites and commands us to believe and do things that will seem strange and be unpopular with the majority of people around us. His invitation is amazing but, once again, we naturally hate that! We far prefer self-centeredness, indulgence, and social acceptance to self-denial, sacrifice, and social rejection. And so, many who initially are enthusiastic about the person and good news of Jesus Christ won’t really embrace Him as their Lord because of what He expects.

Jesus is used to that, as we see in the verse. Though He desires for everyone to follow Him, He absolutely prefers a handful of true followers to a large crowd of fans. He actively winnows out His true followers from His casual fans in this story and is glad to have done so. Jesus isn’t concerned about the number of people sitting in a church building or calling themselves Christian. He cares about the number of disciples who are truly following Him, carrying their cross along the narrow path of faith. Of course, He gives every disciple the strength to carry their cross, He walks with them, and He fills them with joy as we do. But each believer must still walk with Him rather than his or her own path.

What about you? Are you truly walking with Jesus? If not, will you turn and #FollowJesus?