What we must do to follow Jesus, who wants to give us true freedom and happiness, is to deny ourselves, that is, to 'unfollow' ourselves.
Just listen to some of the popular messages today.

Ultimately, it means living a life where you are the master of yourself.
These messages all teach that a life of self-mastery brings true happiness.
What do you think? Is that really true?
There is an irony in the life I live as the master of.
A life like that may seem free and happy, but in reality it is not completely free.
Even if happiness comes like that, it is temporary, fleeting, and imperfect.
Why? Because you have to take full responsibility for everything in life, all by yourself.
Isn't it overwhelming just hearing it? I have to take full responsibility for my own life...
Driving, managing, and taking responsibility for my own life may seem like a life of freedom, but in reality it is not freedom; it is a harsh punishment.
What will you do when you face great hardship or misfortune after trying to handle everything on your own? Will you have no choice but to claim a mental victory, turn to alcohol or drugs, or rely on others?
Look at the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15.
The prodigal son who left home, the second son, is a representative figure who faced the backlash of freedom.
He left home in search of freedom and happiness, but ended up eating pig-eating berries.
You see the irony of a life where you are the master.
--- p.28-30

We fall often as we go through life.
I often taste the bitterness of failure.
If you fall while running or riding a bike as a child, your heart will fall as an adult.
When our failures or mistakes are revealed and we are embarrassed by someone, our faces turn red like a child's.
But failure is not something to be ashamed of.
It's not because you lack skill, but because you're just unlucky, which is actually more common when you fail.

Even the player with the most hits in professional baseball around the world only has a batting average of .300.
This means that out of ten balls thrown by a pitcher, only about three result in hits.
70 percent of attacks are always outs.
The batter is left out on a groundout or strikeout.
If this player had been blaming himself and frustrated every time he got out, he would never have been able to become a .300 hitter.
The so-called calling, the silently walking of the path that God has called us to, is in itself the image of a courageous person who pleases God.
A place of failure always turns into a place of calling in God's will.
A saint's failure does not end with failure alone.
Failure comes back like a boomerang.
It's not about coming back to the wounds.
It comes back in the name of recovery.
--- p.61-62

Modern people have complicated thoughts.
In order to survive in a rapidly changing world, the amount of thinking has increased and the speed of thinking has increased.
There is pressure to finish work before deadlines and an obsession with doing everything perfectly.
Herein lies the dilemma of modern-day Martha.
I want to live a life like heaven, always listening to the words of Jesus like Mary, but in the reality before my eyes, there is a dictator who constantly attacks my life.
This is what Charles Hummel called the "tyrant of urgency."
For today's Marthas, who find it difficult to fulfill all the responsibilities given to them no matter how they divide their 24 hours, Jesus wants them to pause for a moment and find the leisure to stay at His feet.
How, amidst the hustle and bustle of so many things, can we sit at Jesus' feet and leisurely listen to His words? Where and how can we find the energy to serve Him? How can we choose the "better part" while still managing the pressing issues?
When Jesus said to Martha, "One thing is necessary," it was not a message of self-improvement telling her to manage her time thoroughly and live a planned life in order to do that thing better.
It's just an invitation to come to me.
In other words, the 'one thing' that Jesus spoke to Martha about was personal fellowship with Jesus.
--- p.88-91

The context of life in today's Korean society does not seem to be very different from the context of life in the Jewish region, including Galilee, two thousand years ago.
Despite the large temporal gap of two thousand years and the large spatial gap of the Middle East.
There are similarities between our society today and the Jewish society of two thousand years ago.
The point is that the people are tired.
It goes without saying that life is difficult, then as now.
Life is relentless and tires us out.
In this world, Jesus, the Son of God, became incarnate and came to this earth as Immanuel, the Prince of Peace.
He came to this earth to give the gift of true life and rest to the countless weary souls of this land, to provide the total salvation of life through the salvation of souls, and to give them the shalom of the kingdom of God.
--- p.119-120

The gospel breaks down all barriers of racial prejudice and emotional conflict.
The greatest characteristic of the gospel is that it goes beyond good.
The gospel breaks down all barriers and unites the world once again.

In fact, Jesus came to this earth by breaking down the boundary between heaven and earth by crossing the line of heaven.
The line between heaven and earth is much wider and larger than high-rise apartments and semi-basements, or Gangbuk and Gangnam.
It is a line of incomparable realms.
As a symbol of this, the veil of the temple was torn when Jesus was crucified.
Could it be that I'm deluding myself into thinking that the gospel of Jesus is something special, something exclusive, something rare? Could it be that I'm thinking and acting like the Pharisees of Jesus' time, obsessed with the idea that "I'm special, and you Gentiles are the poor, unsaved ones"? The gospel isn't a possession I possess alone; it's a product meant to flow through me.

The gospel is not something to possess, but something to live.
Rather than being confident that I will definitely go to heaven because I have the gospel, shouldn't I live out this gospel of grace and hope to stand before the Lord, having realized and believed the gospel through God's grace?

--- p.158-160