8.1 How Can I Follow Jesus?

Decisions, decisions, decisions, some people hate them but some people were born to make them. You might be shocked to hear that you make on average 20,000 decisions every day, with 250 of those decisions being made on food alone. On the flip side, there are some things in this life that we have no control over. Like when we were born, where we were born, our parents, our siblings, our name. We can't control how we enter this world but we can decide what we make of it. As we get older, there are some important decisions to make like the friends we choose, our subjects in school, or the job that we decide to chase after. We also have no control over what religion we're brought up in, even if you have no religious upbringing, but it is still 100% your choice to make faith your own. When it comes to being a follower of Jesus, it's something you have to decide for yourself. But it's also something that affects your whole identity as someone who has been forgiven of much and loves much which leads to a change in how you live your life and how you treat others. One of these is well-known parables, it's called the parable of the Sower and it explains the different ways that people respond to his invitation of love and forgiveness (Matthew 13). Jesus said that a farmer went out to sow some seed and some of the seed fell along the path, where the birds came and ate it up, and the seed in the parable, it's talking about the word of God. The message of Jesus and the seed that fell along the path refers to people who at first hear the message of Jesus but they never really understand it. The message doesn't take root in their lives and so the evil one, like these birds come and take it away. But Jesus said that 'other seed fell on a rocky place where the soil was very little.' And so at first, these seeds sprang up quickly because the soil was so shallow but when the sun came out, it was scorched, and it withered away. And so these seeds refer to people who hear the message of Jesus and they receive it with joy, but then when hardship comes or when trouble comes because of their faith, they quickly fall away. Some seed fell among the thorns which grew up and choked the plant making it unfruitful, and Jesus was speaking about people who hear the message but the worries of life and the lies of wealth, they choke the truth about the message of Jesus, and making that unfruitful. Still, some seed fell among the good soil and it produced a crop up to 100 times what was sown and here Jesus was speaking about people who hear the message and make a heartfelt decision to trust this message, and to follow Jesus and share their faith, impacting way more people than they ever could imagine. I remember when I was 16, I made the decision to follow Jesus but unfortunately, I was like the seed that fell on the rocky ground in Jesus' parable. When I experienced the love and forgiveness of God, I loved living my life for him but as soon as troubles came, it got a little bit hard. A couple of years after I made that decision, I was no longer part of a youth group and I lost most of my friends who were following Jesus. It wasn't long until I was completely detached from the church, talking to God, or exploring the Bible. The hardest part for me during this time and the most damaging was getting stuck in an endless cycle of using nights out to escape. I found myself spiralling into a place of despair, and I wasn't liking the person I was becoming. Some years later, I cried out to God again knowing that I couldn't continue as I was going. It was a tough transition for me as it meant changing the way I was living my life. I went back to church and got involved in helping wherever I could, this time I was more like the good soil that Jesus was talking about, from helping with an inner-city project in Dublin to an incredible job that I adore, my life now with God at the centre has had a profound impact on me. It's a big decision to follow Jesus, not one to be taken lightly but I'm so glad I did, even if it took a while to take root in my life. I give thanks to God for the stronger, more peaceful person that I'm becoming, and for the friendships that he's provided for me to help me through the ups and downs of my faith journey. God has replaced my darkness with joy and I'm now more connected than ever and making a positive impact on the lives around me.