Why Follow Jesus?
I was scrolling through Christian Twitter the other day—which, let’s be honest, is rarely where you find Jesus—and saw yet another thread about what “real Christians” must do to prove their faith.
Vote Republican. Don’t drink. Homeschool. Submit to male leadership. Support Israel unconditionally. Hold “traditional” values.
I closed the app feeling exhausted.
Here’s what struck me: Nobody asked why we follow Jesus. Only what we’re supposed to do to prove we’re doing it right.
We’ve made Christianity about checking boxes, boxes that we can’t seem to agree on. AND we’ve forgotten the most basic question.
We’ve Got It Backwards
There’s a business concept called the Golden Circle. Most organizations tell you what they do, maybe how they do it. The inspiring ones start with why—their reason for existing.
They start with why move to how and then demonstrate the what.
Christianity has this backwards right now.
We’re pointing fingers at who is and isn’t a “real Christian” based on their what. What they vote. What they drink. What they wear. What they post on social media.
Nobody’s talking about why.
Why do I follow Jesus? Why Christianity instead of Buddhism or secular humanism or any of the thousand other ways to organize your life?
Why do I get out of bed and choose Christ?
Your Actions Prove What You Actually Believe
Here’s what I’ve learned through faith crises and hard questions: your actions prove what you actually believe. Not what you say you believe. What you believe.
If you fundamentally believe Jesus came to judge and pay the ransom for sin, you’ll do everything possible to convince others they’re inherently evil and need saving. Your evangelism will focus on convincing people they’re broken beyond repair without intervention. You’ll see the world as corrupted, headed to destruction regardless of your actions, people as depraved, and your job as warning them about hell and the impending judgment.
If you fundamentally believe Jesus came into a broken world to heal and restore it, you’ll act like a healer. You’ll fight injustice and work toward healing the planet that God entrusted to our care. You’ll mend broken hearts. You’ll welcome the stranger. Because that’s what healers do—they go where the wounds are. Your faith will look like binding up injuries, not cataloging sins.
See the difference? Same Jesus. Same Bible. Completely different why.—and completely different what flows from it.
If you really believe you’ve encountered grace, you’ll extend it. Not because someone quoted “forgive seventy times seven” at you, but because grace flows from people who’ve received it. Your forgiveness isn’t a rule you’re following—it’s evidence of what happened to you.
If you really believe there’s hope beyond death, you’ll take risks. Your courage is evidence of conviction you can’t see.
This is what Jesus meant when He said “by their fruit you will recognize them.” The fruit proves the root. What you do reveals what you actually believe, not what you think you’re supposed to believe.
Right now we’re trying to impose the fruit without planting the root. We’re demanding actions without establishing the belief that makes those actions meaningful.
Christianity Drowning in Lists
Open social media. Walk into most churches. You’ll hear dozens of voices telling you what you must do to be a real Christian.
Vote this way. Parent this way. Attend church every Sunday (or is it Saturday?). Don’t drink. Drink responsibly. Don’t eat pork. Eat whatever you want. Support this political position. Oppose that cultural trend. Read your Bible using this exact method. Don’t read that Bible, read this one.
The lists contradict each other. One influencer says real faith looks this way. Another says something completely different. We’ve turned partisan politics into orthodoxy, as if Jesus spent the Sermon on the Mount discussing the White House remodel.
People are exhausted. Confused. Walking away because they can’t reconcile the Jesus in the Gospels with the Christianity they see in American churches.
We’re building a house starting with the roof.
So, Why Follow Jesus?
Before you worry about what Christians should do, sit with why the most fundamental question to your faith. Why follow Jesus?
Not why you should. Not why your friends, pastor, or favorite influencer follows Him. Why do you?
This isn’t comfortable. You have to dig past inherited answers, past Sunday school responses, past cultural Christianity absorbed by osmosis.
When I did this—really did it, not just performed the expected answers—I found uncomfortable truths. I’d been holding onto faith partly because of family expectations. Partly because I’d invested years in seminary and ministry. Partly because walking away felt like admitting failure.
But underneath those shaky reasons, I found something solid. A conviction that Jesus revealed something true about God and humanity that I couldn’t unsee. A reminder that He came to heal and restore. A truth that even in my darkest moments he never left me. Even when I wanted to walk away, that remained.
That’s the foundation that could support weight.
What Changes
Once you identify your why, your actions stop being performance. They become evidence.
Your generosity proves you believe in a God who gives freely. Your forgiveness shows you’ve experienced grace. Your justice work reveals you follow a Jesus who sided with the marginalized. Your hospitality demonstrates you’ve been welcomed by Love itself.
These aren’t requirements someone imposed. They’re fruit of what you believe. Evidence of conviction.
The world doesn’t need more Christians following rules they don’t understand. It needs people who know why they follow Jesus and let that shape everything else.
Why Do You Follow Jesus?
Sit with that question this week. Journal about it. Talk it through with someone you trust. Reread the Gospels, paying attention to what actually draws you to Jesus.
You might discover your why is solid. You might find it needs work.
Either way, when you get clear on your why, your what stops being a burden. It becomes proof of who you’re becoming in Christ.
Before you judge anyone else’s Christianity, before you add another requirement to the list, before you worry about doing it right, answer this:
Why do you follow Jesus?
Everything else flows from there.
What’s your “why” for following Christ? I’d love to hear your story in the comments or connect at Grace in the Margins.
Related Reading: