Know Your Why If You Want To Follow Jesus {and not quit}

Up, up, up. Higher and higher I climbed. One big branch to another, until I was higher than I’d ever been. Higher than I was really comfortable with, but the tree trunk was thick and sturdy in my arms. I paused at each branch, marveling at how much progress I was making, how much I was growing and progressing. Yet, my hands remained tightly around the trunk, hanging on for dear life.

Deep breath… Then a step out onto a branch. Near the trunk this branch was sturdy, barely moving under my weight. I focused on slowly letting go of the trunk and beginning to stand on my own. Starting to find my own way, my own voice, my own strength. “I can do this,” I thought. “This isn’t so hard.”

One step, then another. Then suddenly the branch became smaller and as I moved further from the trunk it began to sway a little under my weight. The further I stepped, the more unsteady the branch became. “Maybe I’ve stepped too far,” the thoughts filled my head. “Maybe I can’t do this after all. Where is the safety of the trunk? The comfort of the ground?” My resolve and faith began to waver along with the movement of the branch. “I’m not enough for this. This branch is going to break and I’m going to fall into a million pieces.”

Then I did. Fall into a million pieces. Metaphorically, that is. This was what my first adventure into faith and obedience felt like. I said “yes” to an outlandish ask from God and it was a season of big growth. The kind of growth like when you stretch a new rubber band to its limits – just until its breaking point. Only I forgot that sometimes the rubber band works better after it’s been stretched a bit. A new rubber band doesn’t break easily. It’s flexible and the stretching grows it.

Our Faith Needs Deep Roots To Keep Us Grounded

I forgot to focus on the roots of the tree. I was so consumed with the branches and the journey that I forgot to check if the tree had deep enough roots. I forgot to tend to the soul of the tree.

When we step out in obedience and faith, we will face trials, storms, swaying branches under our feet, paths that feel like quicksand. We’ll begin to wither under the opposition and wonder why we ever said “yes” in the first place. We’ll start looking every which way for the nearest exit, the way back to the how it was before. Only, deep down, we don’t want to go back…

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit. ~Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT)

How do we keep the roots firmly rooted? How do we make sure we have a strong enough base to support us as we step out beyond our comfortable, beyond our known, beyond our limits?

Know Your Why If You Want To Grow Deep Roots

We must know our “why” to stay rooted. Know why you said “yes” to follow Jesus. Know why Jesus is so important in your life. Know why your faith has transformed and redeemed your life. Know why you want nothing more than to keep following the path God is laying before you.

I fell from that metaphorical tree because I didn’t know my “why”. Sure, I’d said “yes” to Jesus and was determined to follow where he led, but I wasn’t connected to my “why”. Out on the spindly branches, I’d lost connection to why I’d said “yes”, why I wanted nothing more than to keep saying “yes”, why I was so grateful for Jesus in my life.

Following Jesus is More Than Obedience

Following Jesus is more than mere obedience, more than “because he said so”. It’s a commitment from your heart and your soul. Because you want to. Because you are so grateful for who he is and what he’s done in your life. Because you’ve looked and found there’s no other you’d rather follow.

When I connected to my “why,” my roots began to run deep. My tree grew stronger and I didn’t feel the ground swaying beneath me anymore. On those days when I do begin to feel unsteady, I go back to my “why” and remind myself why I’ve said “yes” to follow Jesus and why I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Know Your Why and Share It

My “why” is that God found me in my darkest hour and answered my prayers. He gave me a comfort and a peace beyond any understanding and allowed me to enter into a personal relationship with Him. He filled me with light and hope when my world was dark and I was at the end of myself. And I want nothing more than to help everyone else find that same hope and personal relationship with God that I found.

That’s why I do what I do. That’s why I keep going when I’m faced with doubts and insecurities. Why I press forward when it’s hard and inconvenient. Why I can’t imagine any other life than one that serves this generous, grace-giving, loving God and sharing Him with everyone I can.

What Is Your Why? How Will It Change Your Walk With Jesus?

So, what is your “why”? Connect to your story when God broke through and caused your life to pivot (in a small way or a big one) and then you’ll find your “why”. Write it down, give it a headline so it’s easily recalled, and call upon it when you begin to doubt and waver. Allow your “why” to grow your roots deep, so you can withstand any storm that comes your way.

“What would it mean, I ask myself, if I too came to the place where I saw my primary identity in life as ‘the one Jesus loves’? How differently would I view myself at the end of a day? Sociologists have a theory of the looking-glass self: you become what the most important person in your life (wife, father, boss, etc) thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible’s astounding words about God’s love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?” ~Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace? {affiliate link}

[This post is part of the Visible Faith series. Click here to learn more about this series on how to live a vibrant, visible faith.]

Want to go deeper with Jesus and walk with him? Suzie Eller’s newest book, Come With Me, will inspire, encourage and push you to whisper “yes” and find your deep roots. I did receive a free copy of her book as part of her launch team, but I absolutely loved it and think you will, too! {these are affiliate links, so you’ll be helping sustain this blog if you purchase through them}