Peter began to tell Him, “Look we have left everything and followed you.” “I assure you,” Jesus said, “there is no one who has left house, brothers,or sisters, mother or father, children or fields because of Me and the gospel who will not receive 100 times more now at this time – houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions and eternal life inthe age to come. Mark 10:29-31
In my twenty years of being a Christian i have learned one major thing – while following Jesus Christ is an immense blessing it does not shield you from suffering. In fact, some of the people whom I know to have a deep and wide relationship with God seem to endure more hardships than the average person will ever face. These hardships work to establish their trust in God, to build their endurance and to test their faith.
Naturally when we look at history, we can see that Christ’s first disciples and Christ himself pre-warned us about what would come along with this journey. In Luke 15, starting at verse 26 Christ says “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and yes even his own life – he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
Now why is this? The answer can be found in the Old Testament. In Exodus 20:3 God gives Moses the ten commandments and the first is “Thou shall have no other gods before me.”
Before we even came into existence God already knew who His “competition” would be and to ensure he encompassed as much as possible he said “even his own life” so we’d understand even our lives are not our own to live. They are to be spent poured out at the feet of the Father, showing others what it means to follow him.
Nowhere in the Bible are we promised fortune and fame. We aren’t promised a life that’s carefree. But if we do choose to accept his invitation to follow him we are promised a wonderful life in eternity.
Now why does this matter? Because sometimes you will want to quit but comfort comes in knowing that as God’s chosen ones you were built for this. There’s nothing you’ve given up for God that He is incapable of returning to you. There is nothing beyond His reach, nothing He cannot do and while it may be tempting to think that his lack of response indicates an inability or insufficiency, God promises in His word that His grace is all we need.
So you may feel like you’ve sacrificed your best life and that you haven’t gotten a proper return on investment just yet. But keep holding on, eventually God will make good on His promise.