Following Jesus

    As a Christian we get our marching orders from Jesus of Nazareth. His word is true and faithful. It should suffice. Meaning, we can follow His commands, and we will arrive in life and death and judgment and post-life where we need to go. With Him, we wish to arrive, and to be together and re-united with all His Sons and Daughters. All together with God the Father of us all. The next life has its promise and reward; also, in this life the Good News Gospel of the Saviour has its function, utility, and, powerful purpose in enriching our lives.

    We believers believe that this is true, based on our knowledge and convictions of who He is. He Is. The Great I Am, for those that have faith in Him. He is the Author and Finisher, the Alpha and Omega.

    Depending on which denomination and type of Church we belong to, we may have different expectations of how to follow His commands. Some of us believe we make solemn commitments to Him through baptism and other holier sacraments. We also may believe in being actively engaged in His Church, if we believe there is one that possesses His authority. Some Christians believe that God and Christ's authority derive from the Holy Bible. These are usually Protestant and Evangelical Christian strains that originally broke off the Roman Catholic Church because of the claim of priesthood authority presupposed upon man instead of "God's Word", which is the Bible, as they interpret it.

    Grace and forgiveness come Jesus and God, but are there more parts to their servants on the Earth?

    Many Christians do not think there is an earthly authority for God's religion, official or otherwise. Not having Christ's priesthood as the Catholics, Orthodox, or those of my faith (LDS, Church of Jesus Christ) claim to have, plus some other traditional mainline Protestant faiths like Anglicans, Lutherans, or other. All Christians claim some type of conduit or permission to Christ's power and faith, whereas many believe it to be direct and not through any other channel other than Him. Christ is all powerful, in that most Christians can agree. The follow up questions: does He have apostles today, or other representatives of the "cloth" or official clergymen who work in His name?

    Hence all the denominations and discussions, debates as to who has the truth of the Son of God and who is in error.

    Who is on the Lord's side, who?

    Within my faith, my belief system, we have community and individual problems or challenges. How often do I pray sincerely? How much do I study the scriptures? How do I worship, and how much do I serve my family and other members, and those in the missionary efforts?

    How much do I focus my faith on and in the Lord of All, my Redeemer Jesus Christ? How much do I rely in His gifts, mercy, Atonement, exculpatory powers, grace, love, hope, and plan? How much do I turn away from Him and potentially offend the Holy Spirit? How much do I actively keep the commandments of God? How much do I honor my priesthood and seek His will?

    Life and the Gospel of Jesus Christ are not about comparing to others, but sometimes we cannot help but see ourselves like others or be in their shoes. I had a friend from childhood, who, like many of us, recognized that he wanted to follow on the path of Jesus, but sometimes he became lost or errant, and he found himself having wandered off the path of the Savior. But then as a pattern, he would return. 

    This friend was named Bobby; I used his real name in a post back in 2012 or so and the mother, or the friend of the mother, also, questioned why I would write about him. Me too, but with different points of view. If I were his only son, part of his legacy on the earth, I would like to know about my dad who died at about age 30, of a drug overdose. I thought that They were concerned for Bobby's surviving son, because I speculated that Bobby might have taken his own life, which was worth analyzing and perhaps figuring out, as a friend, brother, and Christian, what not to fall into in order to avoid succumbing to what happened to him. He drank beer with buddies, divorced his wife, and moved to the next state, California, which was close to me.

    I am not saying good Christian people cannot drink beers. However, us Church members of Jesus Christ of my faith have covenanted not to imbibe any alcohol. Kind of like a higher order of priesthood or self-sacrificing group of followers. Us Latter-day Saints have some tighter restrictions and laws as followers, saints, of Jesus. Bobby, like me, was a Mormon, as we are nicknamed. I later talked to his ex-wife. We spoke a bit about faith and practice.

    How are we Christians? How do we practice and apply the Gospel in our lives? She wanted to maintain her faith, which she was a convert to. I encouraged her to keep on, and gave as much consoling as I could. She needed to be there for the surviving son, small back then, but by now a full-grown man and perhaps a father of his own, making his way and choosing his own life paths. Would he be like his dad? He would have grown up with his new step-dad, but perhaps a part of him wonders about his biological father who helped his mother into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

    I knew him and his mother growing up. Maybe his son would like to know a few things about his dad from me. 

    

    Anyway, we are all Christians, or not, following Him, or not, and we may or not have questions about how or why we do things.

How do we follow Him? How do we commit errors? How do we right ourselves? How do we repent? How do we seek and approach forgiveness?

    I have more to say about my personal struggles with all these things, and my speculations about maintaining faith and love and commitment to my Lord and Savior. We also, of course, do not live in a vacuum, but we are connected to our loved ones, friends, colleagues, and numerous others that we influence or are influenced by...

    My wife, my kids, my parents, my siblings, my cousins and aunts and uncles, all have part of how I fit into my relationship and ongoing relationship to Jesus. It boils down to me, in the end, but all of the people around us have affect in the process and journey of faith in Him.

    Good enough to post for now.

    Catch you next time.