I have decided...

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. – Matthew 16.24

There are a lot of folks who tell us today that being a Christian is not that big a deal. Say an ‘A-B-C pray after me’ prayer and everything is grand. Now you are a Christian and all you need to do is go to church and play by a few rules and you will be okay.’

I do realise that salvation is by grace through faith alone. There is no salvific work on our part. In that regard salvation is easy.

However, there is more to being a Christian than just a prayer, going to church, and trying to be good.

Following Christ is a serious endeavour. In our desire to get people ‘saved’ we can gloss over the reality of what following Christ means. Jesus tells us that following Him is much more than just a prayer and half-hearted effort. Jesus put it this way – ‘Anyone who wants to follow me must deny himself, and take up his own cross, and follow Me.’

When we make light of what salvation means I think we do a disservice to the gospel. We end up with burnouts and washouts who did not count the cost before they ‘prayed a prayer.’ We also give people a false confidence in their prayer when we don’t talk about counting the cost.

When people come to Christ they need to know what they are doing. They need to know it is not just a prayer but a life commitment, a new way of life, joining a new family, and truly saying ‘I have decided to follow Jesus.’