Each time I open my Bible, there it lies. A treasure rarely seen these days, I’ve kept it nestled in the Word for a few years now. This note, written in a dear friend’s own personal scrawl, is part bookmark and part reminder of the One who calls me.

My friend is a gifted artist. I once proclaimed to her that I would love to own a piece of her work. For my birthday one year, I opened an unexpected gift. Inside the package, I found not one, but three paintings. She included the handwritten note to explain why she had painted them for me.

This passage was her inspiration: “Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Matthew 8:20

I proudly hung them in a row on the wall in my living room. The irony of it has not escaped me. I have a wall, in a house that I own, on which to hang these paintings. Whereas, my Savior had no home of His own. I live in comfort, yet He left the comfort of heaven to live in discomfort for me.

Jesus made the statement above in response to a scribe who said, “I will follow you wherever you go.” If the scribe had known why Jesus had come, he may not have made such a hasty promise. Following Christ means letting go of this world and living for the next. Paul tells us to imitate Christ, who “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:6-8)

We need to hold all things loosely, except Christ Himself.

What that looks like, I am still learning. Each day I have to intentionally lay down my desires and follow Him in obedience. Dying to myself is an ongoing journey which includes lessons in contentment, sacrifice, and servanthood. The more I realize how much Christ gave up for me, the more I am compelled, out of love, to give up for Him.

Whenever I look at these paintings, I am reminded that I am not alone in this journey. God has placed people in my path who walk alongside me. We are learning together what it means to carry our cross and follow Him. We spur each other on and encourage one another to live for Him.

These paintings also remind me of the faith it takes to walk away from all that you know to follow Christ-straight into the unknown. The disciples dropped their nets full of fish to follow Him. They didn’t know where they were headed, they didn’t know the exact cost, but they knew He had everything they ever wanted. He called them and they answered that call to forsake everything for Him.

What am I giving up for Christ? What am I holding onto that I need to let go?

I don’t want to be like the rich young ruler who walked away from Jesus, saddened because he couldn’t do what it takes to follow Christ. I want to have the same heart as Paul, who said, “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” Philippians 3:8-9

One thing I have learned in this journey is that I need the strength of Christ to carry my cross. I need the grace that only He can provide. Forsaking everything for Him, to walk into the unknown, requires trusting in His sight to lead me. I can’t see what’s ahead on this path. It’s in tuning my ears to hear His voice, that I can walk forward, one step at a time.

I don’t have my walk in faith all figured out. I don’t know exactly what it means to follow Him-He who had no place to lay His head. But I do know that wherever He leads, I will follow. And I know that it’s only in Him is where I find everything I’ve ever wanted.

Linking up with:

And Word Filled Wednesday and Intentional.Me