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| Hiking up a dune at Warren Dunes State Park |
I'm reading Scot McKnight's One.Life. McKnight actually believes that Jesus means business when he says, "Follow me."
McKnight thinks that followers of Jesus really follow Jesus.
McKnight thinks that if someone does not actually follow Jesus, then they are not a follower of Jesus.
Admittedly, there is some logic to this. Consider:
- I do not follow Jesus. Not really. Not actually.
- Therefore I am not a follower of Jesus. Not really.
But am I still a "Christian?" I'll let you answer that.
McKnight writes: "This seems so obvious, but just listen to many in churches today who think following Jesus is an option or the dessert or what only the fanatics manage to accomplish." (65)
"Those who aren't following Jesus aren't his followers. It's that simple. Followers follow, and those who don't follow Jesus aren't followers. To follow Jesus means to follow him into a society where justice rules, where love shapes everything. To follow Jesus means to take up his dream and work for it." (70)
Following Jesus, being a Jesus-follower, being an actual "Christian," means actually following after Jesus. Following Jesus isn't the icing on the cake, it is the entire cake, without which there's nothing, not even icing.
