I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I am not religious or a weekend church-goer, but simply trying to live each day following the simple and profound teachings of Jesus Christ.  I usually fail.

If measured by the lasting impact of his life, the historical person of Jesus Christ was possibly the greatest teacher and leader that ever lived – definitely a guy worth following and listening to.  But he also made explicit claims to be God.  So either he is a truly great teacher and is God, or he was a liar and possibly a lunatic.  I believe the former – he is God, who came to earth as a man to demonstrate his complete love for us…for me.

He showed us love by becoming like us, and also by dying for us.  I often grimace at this and wonder why such a gruesome thing would be necessary – but apparently it was.  The fact that I usually fail meant that I could not be in a relationship with a perfect God – a state of affairs that was not acceptable to him given his love for us.  The cost of my failing is death, and so Jesus Christ paid that price for me – experiencing and then defying death.  Now when God looks at me, all he sees is the perfect life of Jesus Christ in my place – despite the fact that I still fail.

Jesus Christ did this so that I can have a relationship with him and experience his love – which can only happen if I’m following him.  There is definitely no way I could reach the perfection of God on my own, so I am a follower of Jesus Christ.

I’ll let you explore the entirety of his teachings for yourself, but the summary is pretty simple:  “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

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For more about following Jesus, read the book of John.