Fan or follower?

I’m currently reading a book called ‘Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus by Kyle Idleman‘. I’m not quite at the end of it yet, but I am really being challenged by the message.

Last night I watched champions league football, some of these stadiums have 80,000 fans watching the match. They wear the shirt, have the sticker on their car and watch the game. But they don’t get involved on the pitch. When the teams doing well they are supporting them, but apart from a few committed followers, when the team does bad they lose interest.

A fan is someone who wants the badge but not the commitment in other words an enthusiastic admirer. A follower is someone who is committed 100% to follow.

Some people come to church on a Sunday, cheer for Jesus but they have no interest in following Him. They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires anything from them.

We can be in danger of preaching a message where ‘Jesus will give you everything that you want and need‘, but miss out the part where it means committing our lives to follow. Yes the bible says that we need to believe, but it also says that faith shows itself through the way that we live!

So as I continue in the book I will blog additions. In the meantime why not take some time to think about the question ‘Are you a fan or a follower?‘