Like Godzilla on the Streets of Tokyo – Reasons NOT to Follow Jesus (part 4)

One of the biggest warnings I can issue against following Jesus is one that should be taken seriously if you’ve made it this far.

If you choose to follow Jesus, you’ll have to change. Completely.

You come to the Father just as you are (that’s a beautiful truth) and He welcomes you like His long lost child (which you are) but then like a loving Dad, He enrolls you in The Academy of Extreme Soul Makeover.

In his second letter to the church at Corinth, Paul exclaimed “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17 NIV)

That sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? We become a new creation. Wow.

And sometimes the process of becoming that creation is beautiful – like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis all full of wonder and color and wings and the ability to fly. Others watch in breathless awe.

But sometimes it’s more like a scene from Alien when some horrible creature writhes and spews and claws its way out of its host. And people run like Japanese extras in a Godzilla flick, shielding their heads with newspapers (from the spew), averting their eyes and screaming “Why, why is this happening to you?”

In my experience, the process of transformation in Christ is more often like the second scenario than the first.

(Perhaps I need more work than you will.)

And the change process NEVER ends – well, not this side of glory, anyway. Peter writes this to believers, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8 NIV)

Does that sound like a summer stint at charm school? Heck, no. This is like getting a medical degree on top of a PhD in engineering with a double major in rocket science and Latin with a minor in Greek.

You must change. You must be transformed. The old you must die and the new you emerge triumphant.

(I know, I know. You’ve met Christians who haven’t changed in years – not anything – not their character, their hairstyles their hemlines or their ties. I don’t understand it either. Maybe they’re reading a different Bible.)

So you’re changing, right?

And sometimes the people around you welcome the changes and they cheer you on and support your new way of being and operating in the world.

And sometimes the people around you look at you funny and act like you’ve caught leprosy. They’re not happy with you, in fact, they’re down right annoyed and if you think they’re going to change, too, you’ve got another think coming. And they ask if maybe you’ve joined a cult or gone all fundamentalist or think you’re better than everyone else or worse, become a religious fanatic.

Because if you change then maybe you think they should change and that’s unsettling on a relationally seismic level and sometimes it causes a great fault and you’re standing on one side and they’re left standing on the other.

There’s nothing fun about that. You don’t stand there feeling like a beautiful Monarch with amazing new wings. You feel like that spewing, snarling creature in Alien.

And in those moments, following Jesus doesn’t feel like getting your best life now. It feels more like screwing up everything that worked before and making life much, much, much worse then you imagined it could be in that moment that you heard Jesus call your name and you said, “Here am I.” and it felt like coming home.

Now you’re hoping there’s Dramamine in the communion wafers because you are definitely feeling seasick from the waves of change.

Coming to Jesus is an event. Becoming like Jesus is a process. And sometimes you feel like an amazing wonder of butterfly engineering and sometimes you feel like Godzilla on the streets of Tokyo.

So, if you’re not up for the process of changing, don’t bother to attend the event.

Following Jesus is not something that happens in a moment. It starts in a moment and is followed by another and another and another and each of those moments is about building the Kingdom of God starting first in your own heart.

It’s not always pretty. If you don’t have a strong stomach, maybe this life with Christ isn’t for you.

If it’s still appealing, I’ll see you at my next post.