08/08/2026
There’s a Difference Between Following Jesus and Freely Following Him
I have chickens that I love dearly, and they come to me. They follow me, and they listen to me when I call them. But one thing they don’t do is sit and cuddle with me or love on me. If I try to pick them up, most of the time I have to bribe them.
It kind of makes my heart sad, but then I realize it’s because we never really consistently sought  that relationship. I got so busy with homesteading that I never really took the time to love on them and maintain that intimate bond.
My chickens follow me because they know I feed them. They know I’m their source of food, and they know when I call them, they’re supposed to come.
There’s a sense of obedience and dependence there, but there isn’t that freedom of intimacy that comes from simply wanting to be close to someone.
This year, I have realized I had done the same thing with Jesus.
In the beginning, Jesus showed me who He was and His desire for a relationship with me. But because I was inconsistent in seeking that intimacy, I eventually forgot that He had desired it from the beginning.
I became so busy and so focused on checking the boxes of being a “good Christian” that, without even realizing it, my relationship with Jesus became more about religion than relationship.
I was so focused on doing things right that I stopped focusing on simply being close to God.
And that’s when I realized what I had been missing.
It wasn’t obedience.
It wasn’t faithfulness.
It was intimacy.
I also realized something else.
I had never really desired this kind of intimacy in my earthly relationships either. I had placed the same mask of relationship with man over my relationship with God.
Unlike me with the chickens, It wasn’t that He didn’t desire intimacy with me.
I had never taken the time to know Him that way.
I never truly got to know Him as my Father, my Friend, and my Helpmate, my ʿezer.
And the more I have gotten to know Him, the more I have realized that these aren’t just titles.
These are the ways He invites us to know Him.
He is my Father.
Through the Holy Spirit, I can cry out, “Abba, Father.” I don’t have to approach Him as a slave who is simply trying to do everything right. I can come to Him as His child.
“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”
— Romans 8:15
He is my Friend.
Jesus Himself said, “I have called you friends.” He doesn’t just want me to know His commands. He wants me to know Him.
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
— John 15:15
And He is my Helpmate, my ʿezer.
The same word we see in Genesis 2:18 for “helper” is also used throughout Scripture to describe God as the One who helps His people. It isn’t a word of inferiority. It is a word of strength, support, and help.
“And the other was named Eliezer (ʾĔlîʿezer), for he said, ‘My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.’”
— Exodus 18:4
I wasn’t lacking the obedience or the faithfulness.
I was lacking the intimacy and the heart commitment.
And I started wondering, how often do other, like me, do the same thing?
How often do we all find ourselves following the Lord out of obligation, checking boxes, being obedient, and doing what we know we’re supposed to do, but never really stopping to realize that our Creator wants a relationship with us?
There’s a difference between following because we know we’re supposed to and following because our hearts genuinely desire to.
And maybe that’s where some of us are.
Maybe we’re being obedient, but we’re not intimate with God.
Maybe we’re following Him, but we’re not freely following Him.
Maybe we know His commands, but we haven’t taken the time to know His heart.
Because there is a difference between simply following Jesus and wanting to be near Jesus.
In this season of my life, I have learned the importance of friendship with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, and with our Creator.
And through that, I have learned how to be a better friend in my earthly friendships.
I have learned how to be a better person and even a better mom.
And maybe that’s because when we learn what it actually means to have a relationship with Him, He begins to teach us what relationship is supposed to look like everywhere else.
It’s not just about obedience.
It’s about intimacy with our Father.
And I think this is where I’ve really started to understand what true salvation is.
Because true salvation isn’t just about knowing how to obey God or simply doing what He says.
It is knowing Him.
It is being delivered from the things that once had us bound and becoming free to completely surrender ourselves to Him.
It is going from simply following Him because we know He is our source, to following Him because we genuinely want to be near Him.
It is knowing His heart so intimately that our obedience isn’t just because we have to obey, but because we love Him and we want to.
There is a difference between following God because we feel like we have to and following Him because our hearts belong to Him.
And I think that is what true freedom looks like.
We aren’t delivered so that we can live however we want.
We are delivered so that we can freely choose Him.
We are delivered from bo***ge so that we can willingly bind ourselves to the One who saved us.
So we can follow Him because we want to.
So we can obey Him because we love Him.
So we can come to Him not as slaves who are desperately trying to get everything right, but as children who know their Father, friends who know His heart, and people who know that He is their ʿezer, their Helper.
This is true salvation.
Not just following Jesus, but freely following and fully surrendering ourselves to Him.
Not just obeying His commands, but knowing the heart of the One who gave us life. Gave us freedom.
Not just knowing that He is our source, but knowing Him intimately.
Because when we truly know Him, obedience doesn’t feel like a chain.
It becomes a choice we make because our hearts belong to Him.
God desires intimacy from you!
