All for Jesus?

"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:36-38

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26

There are Christians in this world who label themselves "carnal". I do not mean that they think of themselves as carnal in the sense that all Christians, before the glorious day when we are fully sanctified, will always be carnal because we will always sin in our bodies. No, there are people who claim to follow Christ without any desire to evidence the fruit of the Spirit by a changed life.

This, you might say, is the ultimate case of trying to have your cake and eat it. You want to be saved by Christ AND continue to live your old, sinful life. What would Jesus say about that?

If we look at our first quote from Mark, Jesus makes it absolutely clear that it is not possible to follow him and at the same time seek to gain the world. Such a person would be trying to walk in two directions at once. We have to choose one or the other, and the choosing the world means forfeiting your soul.

You may be saying to yourself, "I would always choose Jesus over the world." But ask yourself this: if you were the only Christian in a group of people, how likely would you be to stand up for your faith, in challenging the ethics of the company you work for, or in offering a biblical view on homosexuality or in choosing not to go with a group of people to see a film full of sex and violence? We can all stand up for our faith when we are amongst Christians, but what about when we are in the minority? Where is the fruit of your saving faith?

Recently I was speaking on the phone to a family member who has various illnesses. I said, "Be healed in the name of Jesus." But I followed that statement up with a short laugh. Instantly I heard Jesus's words: "For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” I asked myself why I had given an embarrassed laugh. I truly believe that Jesus heals, but the truth is I was covering myself in case the person was not healed. Of course, my very act made it highly unlikely that my relative would be healed. Why should Jesus heal someone when the person praying was embarrassed?

Now, we all have times when our faith is weak. But if that is the pattern of my behaviour - if I always keep quiet, if I never stand up for Jesus - then I have to ask myself whether I have truly been born again. It is not possible for a person to be born again and for there to be no outward evidence. Martin Luther said, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.”

The truth is that the way we live our lives will reveal the truth of whether we are or are not a Christian. We may all have times in the spiritual wilderness; we may all have times when we have doubts; but if you are professing Christ whilst hoping to hold on to your old life, you have to know that is not possible. Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." He made it very clear that He must be first in every aspect of our lives and the only way that anyone knows who is first in my life is by looking at what I say and how I live my life. Not that I am saved by what I do; rather that what I do is the evidence that I am saved.

So who is first in your life?