People in the Christian world like to push the radical commitments of people who followed Jesus as if they totally abandoned everything to follow the person they were certain was God’s Son. I don’t see if that way. Sure, everyone gave up something significant when they first followed Jesus…but no one gave up everything with total abandon. And though Jesus calls us to greater and greater abandon in our commitment to Him, He is satisfied with a timid faith at first–following Him for selfish reasons–if nothing else.

I think Jesus’ followers in particular, wanted to be famous, wanted to learn from the most popular teacher and miracle worker of the day, and wanted a change from fishing and tax collecting. I think that’s evident in how dumb they were at times, and the couple of arguments over who was Jesus’ #2 guy.

Abraham was the same way. He followed God after God promised to bless him and make him a blessing. He struggled trust God in lots of ways after he set out for Canaan…and it was only toward the end of his life that he followed God with total abandon–willing to give his only Son to God if he had to.

I am the same way. I followed God because I didn’t want to go to hell. I followed Him because I wanted to get rid of the intense loneliness, the God-shaped-hole in my life. I didn’t follow with total abandon when I started out, I followed with selfish interest. However, as the years passed and I got to know God better and better, my commitment and abandon increased. Still though, I don’t expect people who are Christians to match my level of commitment, and I certainly don’t expect non-Christians to enter the faith with my intensity. That intensity grows over time. Jesus is our Savior when we first enter a relationship with Him…but we only grow to call Him Lord.