Follow Jesus Christ

Let’s run a small experiment. Take all of Jesus’ words in the Gospels, remove the prepositions and pronouns, the function words like “and,” “in,” “on,” to see which words and concepts He used most often. Many would probably guess “love,” “faith,” “salvation,” or “sin.” But that’s not the case.

In first place is the concept “man” (people). That’s quite natural, since Jesus came to people and addressed them with His preaching. In second place is the word “God” (the Lord), because without that word the spiritual message would not really be spiritual. In third place is the word “Son”: Jesus often bore witness about Himself and His mission. A little behind comes the word “Father.” It can be grouped with “God.” Jesus spoke above all about God as the Heavenly Father. And that is no accident.

Jesus seemed to bring people back again and again to one thought: at the center of reality is not a faceless force, not a law, and not even religion, but the Heavenly Father. Today the world is again searching for a universal key to life. Some speak of the laws of nature, others — of the law of attraction, and still others are sure that it is enough to think correctly for the Universe to begin helping. There is a grain of truth in that. The world is indeed governed by regularities. We know the laws of physics, biology, psychology. The better one understands them, the more effectively one can act. But that is not all. Who stands behind all the universal laws?

Imagine a person who knows perfectly well all the rules for a complex computer program. He knows how to use every function, every keyboard shortcut. But one day the program begins to behave differently. Why? Because there is a programmer behind it. He wrote the rules and can change them if necessary. Laws exist, but they are not the highest reality. Everything depends on a loving Heavenly Father. This is the point Jesus kept emphasizing. He did not call people to find ways to control the universe; He taught them to know the Heavenly Father.

Here is another simple example. Imagine a child trying to understand how a house works. He studies how doors open, where the light switches are, how the heating works. That is useful. It is necessary. But how much will his life change if he understands an even more important fact: the house belongs to his loving father. From that moment what matters most is no longer only the workings of the house or finding a way to live on his own terms, but the relationship with its owner.

The same is true in spiritual life. A person can know many regularities. He can understand psychology, economics, even discover much about the nature of the universe. But if he does not know the One who is the Source of life, he will still lack the most important thing. Jesus remarkably rarely explained the structure of the cosmos. He said almost nothing about space, about mechanisms that govern the universe, or about hidden forces of nature. Instead He constantly repeated: “Your Father knows…,” “Your Father loves you…,” “May the Father’s will be done…”

Modern people often ask: “How can I use the laws of the universe to my advantage?” Many ideas taken from popular esotericism circulate. For example: “The Universe doesn’t know the word ‘not’: say only what you want to receive.” In fact, God and the Universe perfectly hear any logical statement, negative as well as positive. A person can say, “Lord, I do not want to live in fear.” And God will hear exactly that. Or: “Thoughts are seeds.” That is partly true. Thoughts do shape character. Persistent thoughts become habits, habits become character, and character affects destiny. But Jesus’ teaching says that thoughts themselves do not magically create events and reality. Thoughts come and go. Thoughts accepted by the heart change the person, who then makes different decisions and acts differently. For example, purity of heart is rarely given at birth: over the years a person simply learns to filter his or her thoughts more effectively.

Esotericism also has ideas closer to the truth. For example, “You attract what you are.” Indeed, if someone is constantly irritable—believer or unbeliever—he will more often create conflicts around himself. If a person is benevolent, others usually respond in kind. But this is not a law of the universe; it is natural psychology and social dynamics. At the same time, good people sometimes become ill, and the righteous also suffer. Jesus was perfect—yet He was crucified.

Or: “The Universe gives not what you want, but what you have become.” Yes, God primarily seeks to change the person himself, and only then the circumstances of his life. However, God does not allocate illness, poverty, or success according to a rule of “you became such-and-such, so here are the matching events.” Life remains complex; chance, the free will of others, and natural laws are at work. The Universe does not fulfill your thoughts. The Heavenly Father helps you become the sort of person who can live in truth, love, and goodness. By changing a person from within, God often changes his life as well—but not through a magical universal law of attraction, rather through gradual spiritual growth, wise decisions, and the cooperation of human will with divine guidance.

Jesus asks a completely different question, one that is in a sense the most truly esoteric: “How does one learn to trust the Heavenly Father?” That does not mean the laws of the world are unimportant. Studying them is undoubtedly useful and right. One should use the laws of the universe where one can. But there is a vast difference between using a law and having a relationship with a person. You cannot love a law. You cannot trust a law. A law cannot forgive, support, or comfort. Only a person can do that.

Perhaps that is why the most important word in Jesus’ preaching was not “Universe,” not “power,” not “thought,” and not even “religion,” but the word “Father.” And if that is truly so, then the chief question of life is no longer: “How do I make the world work for me?” The main question becomes much simpler and at the same time deeper: “Do I know my Heavenly Father?” It is in that question that Jesus saw the key to everything else.