I've been reflecting on what it means to follow Jesus, and just how hard it can be for some people to actually decide to make that final step of faith and just say, I don't know all the answers, but there's something about this Jesus guy that I like, I'm going to have a crack at following him!

I've also been wondering how much we need to know before we can decide to follow Jesus. It seems in the Gospels, that the disciples didn't really know that much. Some people suggest that for most of the first part of Mark, the disciples weren't really sure who Jesus was or what it really mean to follow him. Certainly they didn't have a correct understanding of what Jesus being the Messiah meant.

I think that we sometimes expect people to know too much before we believe that their faith is real. But that must clearly be an arbitrary line in the sand, that is purely subjective from our own point of view. That doesn't mean that God doesn't have some objective line that he draws though. I don't want to go all post-modern and suggest we can't say anything definitive, but we have to be careful where we do draw the line for knowledge and its relation to faith, especially people who are making their first steps. Do they need to memories "2 Ways to Live" or "The Romans Road" before they can be saved? At least they ought to know something of their need for Jesus and I think they probably also need to be willing to admit that living life their own way, not God's, has been a sinful activity that was leading them into hell.

Here is an article reflecting on the risk of following Jesus.