Any significant decisions that I ever made were only made after much thought. I don’t think I’d describe them as “following my gut”. But perhaps intuition sometimes does play a part. However, for most decisions, I can’t say if they were exactly right. For example, when choosing careers, where to live, and so on, things might have worked out better or worse had I gone in a different direction.
The decision that I speak much about on this site is committing my life to Christ. I believe that it was exactly the right thing to do. And I believe that it has made a positive difference in my life. Yet I hear about people who follow Christ and suffer much persecution in other parts of the world. And Jesus did warn of persecution. They’ll be rewarded in heaven, so it will turn out exactly right for them.
But for myself, I have enjoyed my life as a committed Christian, and I made many wonderful friends. I had plenty of people advising me to just follow the crowd and take an agnostic approach or lie low as a nominal Christian. People generally don’t like to be seen as a “holy Joe”. That’s certainly the case now, but it was also the case here in Ireland when I was in my teens back in the 1970s.
But I’m quite pleased with my life in the evangelical scene. I’ve met a few silly people or annoying people and perhaps I’ve been silly and annoying myself, but that happens in all communities.
But how much I enjoy day-to-day life or church life isn’t the crucial factor.. The main reason that I committed my life to Christ is that Christ Himself asks us to personally commit our lives to Him.
Matthew 11:28
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 16:24
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
These two verses appear contradictory. The first one appears to suggest that it’s easy, the second that commitment is difficult. But I believe that the key thing is to be willing to learn from Jesus and to be happy to publicly identify with Him, even if it’s not seen as the “cool” thing to do.
Mark 8:38
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
There’s hardly any persecution nowadays in Ireland compared to other periods in history and to other countries around the world. Yet, people consider you a little odd when you show enthusiasm for Jesus. I don’t mind being odd nowadays, but 46 years ago, when I was 18, I was a little uneasy being been seen as odd. But I didn’t want to go through life dithering about whether or not to follow Jesus. I’ve never regretted the decision. I can identify with the lyrics of Charles Wesley’s hymn, “And Can it Be”
4 Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee.
I am a little disappointed with my progress, but that isn’t unusual. I think of the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. The Pharisee sees himself as a wonderful person. The Tax Collector sees himself as a sinner and asks for God’s mercy. And I identify more closely with the Tax Collector, but the whole point of Christianity is to provide sinners with a Saviour. And He does want us to fight sin and aim to live holier lives, but the crucial thing is our willingness to learn and to be aware of our shortcomings and our dependence on the Saviour.
Here are a few hymns about following Jesus.
Hibernia Gospel 