Why do you follow Jesus?

So everyone has a reason for the actions that they do. Some are selfless and honorable while others are selfish and evil. Some even have reasons that aren’t evil or good but definitely don’t help them in the long run. So today, we will look at some reasons why people decide to follow Jesus.

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, the one Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for Him there; Martha was serving them, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of fragrant oil—pure and expensive nard—anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped His feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray Him), said, “Why wasn’t this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?” He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it. Jesus answered, “Leave her alone; she has kept it for the day of My burial. 8 For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” Then a large crowd of the Jews learned He was there. They came not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus the one He had raised from the dead. Therefore the chief priests decided to kill Lazarus also because he was the reason many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus.”

John 12:1-11

Hcsb Bible

First, we will look at the obvious evil reasons why people decide to follow Jesus. Judas Iscariot was the money holder for the group and his chief reason for following Jesus was greed and he would steal money from the bag for himself when others weren’t looking. There are a lot of people like Judas in this world. They only serve or follow Jesus for their own personal gain. It can be mainly financially, socially or to just learn more about him so they can impress people.

If you go to church just for the sake of seeing what you can get out of it then you have the wrong motive. People looking for financial wealth from Jesus will eventually leave when the opportunity to take money goes away which happened for Judas.

If you go to church for the social contacts or to make friends, you will eventually leave if your friends leave or you can’t make any more contacts from using the church such as fight breaks out and you won’t feel the need to forgive and reconcile with your supposed brother in Christ.

If you are there just to get more knowledge so you can impress your friends then you will eventually leave either when the pastor can’t go any deeper since he has to teach the younger Christians too, or your friends or those around you know more than you. In both cases you will either feel angered since you can’t go deeper and say “I can’t learn anything there or they don’t teach enough”. Or you will feel inadequate since your friends know more than you and therefore you can’t impress them.

Also the neutral reason would be that you only follow him because of a reason that isn’t terrible but isn’t great either. You follow them either because you were always taught that, or you follow him as an obligation for what he did with you. This can be represented in the case of Martha. Not in this passage but in Luke 10:38-42. It’s great to follow and serve Jesus but she got too caught up in the work of the Lord and didn’t think to follow God and be in relationship with him in order to worship him for who he truly is.

Now this is not to say that we shouldn’t be grateful for what Jesus has done for us and serve him. But rather, we should have the motive to follow and serve him in relationship and less like a house maid or the Boy Scout mentality where we focus on the acts and accomplishments that need to be done.

This is shown in this passage of the person named Mary. She decided to break and pour out an entire years worth of work onto his feet and wash his feet with her hair. She is truly worshipping Jesus and doing what needs to be done for the future. She is anointing him before he goes into Jerusalem to die the next week.

So at the end of the day, why do you follow or serve Jesus or go to church? Do you do for selfish reasons, neutral reasons or to truly worship Jesus in a relationship as a son and daughter of God.

I hope all of you have a great day and are growing closer to God today. If anyone has any questions, comments or disagreements, just comment below or message me.