HOW DO WE FOLLOW JESUS?

Following Jesus means trust, awe, and daily surrender

Many assume that following Jesus means attending services, adopting moral habits, or associating with a Christian culture. Yet when Jesus first called His disciples, He did not hand them a schedule or a list of improvements.

He said, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19). That invitation was relational before it was institutional. It was about attachment to Christ, before activity, allegiance and before achievement.

To follow Jesus is to reorder life around a Person.

This does not dismiss church, prayer, Scripture, or obedience. It places them in their proper place. They become fruit rather than foundation, and express love already awakened, rather than serving as currency to purchase acceptance.

Following Is Rooted in Awe

The beginning of discipleship is not self-improvement. It is awe. When Peter witnessed the miraculous catch of fish, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). Encounter preceded transformation. Reverence reshaped him. That moment did not crush Peter into paralysis; it recalibrated his understanding of himself and of Christ.

Throughout Scripture, genuine change begins when a person sees God rightly. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and immediately recognised his own uncleanness (Isaiah 6:1–5). John fell as though dead when he saw the risen Christ (Revelation 1:17). Awe clears illusions. It exposes pride. It awakens love. It strips away the illusion that we are central and restores the truth that God is.

Following Jesus grows out of that vision. When the heart grasps who He is, obedience ceases to feel like a burden and becomes alignment with reality. Reverence anchors the soul. Without awe, discipleship becomes dry effort. With awe, it becomes grateful response.

Trust Instead of Performance

Much of religious culture quietly trains people to perform. We learn to measure ourselves by visible effort, by consistency, by comparison. We evaluate our worth by how well we are doing this week. The gospel dismantles that instinct at its root.

Jesus did not say, “Impress Me.” He said, “Abide in Me” (John 15:4).

Performance tries to earn closeness. Trust receives it and remains in it. One strives anxiously, fearing disapproval. The other rests while remaining deeply engaged. Following Christ means entrusting Him with identity, security, and outcome. It means believing that His finished work on the cross is sufficient, that forgiveness is complete, and that His resurrection life now animates our own (Galatians 2:20).

This changes motivation. Prayer becomes conversation rather than duty. Obedience becomes gratitude rather than negotiation. Repentance becomes return rather than humiliation. Christianity is often described as walking rather than achieving because it is movement sustained by relationship, not by constant self-evaluation.

A New Way of Seeing

When someone follows Jesus, perception changes before behaviour does. The interior lens shifts. Enemies become neighbours. Status loses its grip. Hidden motives surface under the light of truth. The Sermon on the Mount does not merely regulate actions; it addresses the heart beneath them (Matthew 5–7).

Anger is examined at its root. Lust is traced to the interior gaze. Generosity flows from freedom rather than pressure. Integrity is valued even when no one applauds. Following Jesus reshapes the interior life, and outward patterns gradually reflect that inner renewal.

Consider a simple example. A woman in a competitive workplace constantly fears being overlooked. She measures herself against colleagues and subtly undermines others to protect her position. Anxiety fuels rivalry. After coming to trust Christ deeply, she realises her worth is anchored in being known by God rather than in being noticed by management. The insecurity begins to loosen. Cooperation replaces quiet sabotage. She celebrates others’ success without calculating her own advantage. The external change flows from an internal shift of allegiance.

Discipleship is transformation of desire, not mere modification of behaviour.

Walking in Community

Jesus never called isolated individuals to solitary spirituality. He formed a community of flawed men who often misunderstood Him, argued about status, and failed under pressure. They misunderstood His mission, competed for influence, and fled in fear at His arrest. Yet He kept them close, corrected them patiently, and restored them after failure.

Following Him today still involves shared life. The church, when healthy, is not a performance stage or a social club. It is a gathering of people who know they are being remade. They confess weakness without being cast out. They extend grace because they have received it. They remind one another of truth when feelings distort perspective. Revelation 7 describes a multitude from every tribe and language worshiping together. The scope is global, the foundation singular.

Grace levels all ground. The disciplined and the broken stand side by side, sustained by mercy. No one follows Jesus flawlessly. Growth unfolds within fellowship, correction, and encouragement.

Obedience as Love

Jesus made a direct connection between love and obedience: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Obedience in this context is not cold compliance or external conformity. It is the natural expression of loyalty rooted in affection.

When someone trusts Christ, their priorities shift in concrete ways. Time is stewarded differently. Speech becomes more careful and truthful. Money is handled with generosity rather than greed. Sexuality is understood as sacred rather than casual. Ambition is purified from self-glory. Forgiveness replaces long-nursed resentment. This reordering may cost comfort, yet it produces coherence. Life becomes integrated rather than divided between public image and private reality.

Following Jesus means saying yes to His authority because His character has been seen as trustworthy and good. Commands are no longer arbitrary restrictions. They are wise boundaries given by One who understands the structure of human flourishing.

Daily Surrender

Discipleship is not dramatic once-for-all heroism. Jesus described it as taking up one’s cross daily (Luke 9:23). That phrase evokes death to self-rule. It is the steady refusal to enthrone personal preference above divine wisdom.

Each day presents smaller crossroads where trust must be renewed. It may look like telling the truth when exaggeration would protect reputation. It may involve forgiving when resentment feels justified, o remaining faithful in obscurity rather than chasing applause. It can mean closing a screen when temptation beckons, or speaking courageously when silence would feel safer. But it mostly means staying close to God when we are uplifted, utterly down and anything inbetween. He is our Father, to whom we wish to run in every situation, rather than avoiding Him when things get tough.

Such daily choices, of staying close to Him,  appear small, yet they shape the soul. Habits form character. Over time, the follower begins to resemble the One followed. Surrender ceases to feel like loss and begins to feel like clarity.

The Center Remains the Cross

At the heart of following Jesus stands the cross. Christianity does not rally around the success of its founder but around His public execution and vindication. There, sin is judged and mercy is extended. Pride collapses and gratitude rises. And there, justice and love meet without contradiction.

To follow Christ is to live in the light of that event. Identity is no longer self-constructed. Worth is no longer negotiated. Guilt is neither denied nor hidden; it is answered. Fear loosens because death itself has been faced and overcome.

The call to follow is therefore neither vague spirituality nor moralism. It is attachment to the crucified and risen Lord, expressed through trust, shaped by awe, sustained in community, and evidenced in obedience.

Church attendance may accompany it, as ethical reform may flow from it. Yet the essence remains personal allegiance. Following Jesus means walking with Him, learning His heart, trusting His words, and allowing His life to reshape ours from the inside out, until the pattern of His character becomes visible in the ordinary fabric of daily life.