I recently finished reading the book “Not a Fan” by Kyle Idleman, the premise of which is that Christians should be prepared to suffer hardship and loss in order to follow Christ, not just sit on the sidelines and cheer.
Idleman writes about what it means to take up our cross and follow Christ in obedience and cites some inspiring examples of true followers. It seemed very appropriate that I finished the book just a few days before Easter.
The truths of the book were highlighted when I caught the final episode of the recent, highly popular History Channel series, “The Bible.” The pain that Jesus bore as he carried His cross made me contemplate what the phrase “picking up our cross” really means.
As Jesus was suffering the pain, humiliation and agony, many of His so-called followers proved that they were nothing more than fans. When the going got rough, they were nowhere around.
To be a true follower of Jesus, we need to make sure that our actions reflect what we believe. In Matthew, chapter 7, Jesus warns that not everyone who proclaims “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, only those that do the will of the Father.
He goes on to say that many will proclaim him Lord and will try to tell about all of the wonderful things they have done. He simply tells them to depart from him because he never knew them.
For many people, our lives might be the only Bible they ever read. That’s why it is important that we try to understand the teachings of Jesus, and that we put them in action so that people can see Jesus in our actions and deeds.
The book of James reminds us how important it is to realize that our faith must be backed up by our deeds.
James 2:14-16 states, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”
Yet many followers of Jesus will pray for those that are hungry or suffering from some other need without doing very much to alleviate their suffering.
Did you know that one in seven people in the world will go to bed hungry tonight? Does it not bother us that the lack of proper nutrition contributes to more than half of the 9.7 million deaths of children younger than 5 years old each year in developing countries? This means that one child dies every six seconds from malnutrition and related causes. Yet too many of us simply offer a prayer and maybe a token contribution and hope that someone will help them.
As followers of Jesus, we need to do more for the “least of these.”
The Rev. Chris Singleton is program manager for Stop Hunger Now. Reach him at csingleton@stophungernow.org.