Following Jesus When It’s Not Easy

Does saying “Yes” to Jesus mean saying “No” to ease?

It certainly seems that way.

I think about Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

I don’t think anyone heard those words and walked away thinking, “This is going to be easy!” No one heard the word “cross” in that context and thought “comfort.”

But what does this look like in everyday life? This question immediately calls to mind a couple of different conversations I’ve had just recently.

One was with a brother who was burdened for the persecuted church in northern Nigeria. He told his wife he thought God was leading them to go on short-term trips and serve our suffering brothers and sisters there. 

When he shared this with his wife, she immediately said they needed to pray and make sure the Lord was really calling them to do this because she knew there would be much risk involved. So they joined hands with their kids and prayed specifically for God to show them if he was leading them to do this. 

Within hours, he received a completely unsolicited email from someone in northern Nigeria asking him to come over and help them. Today, he is serving the church there at great risk. A couple of his fellow team leaders were just abducted and tortured (and thankfully—and miraculously—released). 

God is working in powerful ways through the work they are doing, but no one would call it easy.

I had another conversation with a brother who, many years ago, found himself in an unplanned pregnancy with his girlfriend at the time. He was sharing with me how seemingly everyone was telling them to get an abortion, saying how hard it would be to finish college and have a career with a baby who would be a barrier to that. 

Knowing that it was the right decision to have this child didn’t make that decision easy. 

But this brother and his wife now work alongside other women and men in the same circumstance, helping them get the support they need to thrive as parents, and the son who was born to them is now thriving with his own children.

Finally, I think about a young adult who grew up a devout Muslim here in the United States. 

A couple of years ago, she heard the truth about Jesus for the first time, and she found herself drawn toward the gospel. But she knew that if she trusted in Jesus as her Savior and Lord, many in her family (and, namely, her dad) would react very negatively. Yet she became a follower of Jesus anyway, and she’s still working through how to best love her family as she’s ostracized from them.

So how is Jesus asking you to say “Yes” to him and “No” to ease? 

Maybe he’s calling you to go short-term—or longer—somewhere else in the world for the spread of the gospel or the building up of the church. Maybe he’s calling you to come alongside women and men with unplanned pregnancies, or children, or single parents in need. 

Maybe he’s calling you to open your home and share the gospel with your Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, or agnostic friend, neighbor, or acquaintance. Maybe he’s calling you to take a specific stand for Jesus on your campus or in your workplace.

Obviously, I don’t know all that he’s calling you to do. But I do know this: It won’t be easy. And it will be worth it.

So don’t be surprised when it gets hard (see 1 Peter 4:12–19). Yet do be confident that you’re not alone. 

Truly believe that the One who calls you to take up a cross daily has borne the cross on your behalf, and he now lives in you so that you can boldly step into the hard with the supernatural strength, peace, joy, love, and hope that only he can provide. 

According to Jesus in Luke 9:24: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

This article first appeared in The Commission, Radical’s biweekly newsletter featuring global gospel stories and encouragement from David Platt and others to help you follow Jesus and make him known. Subscribe today.