I Have Decided To Follow Jesus

Elevation Worship performs “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus,” a hymn from the Indian tradition that has crossed many cultures. The opening line states a choice, “I have decided to follow Jesus,” and the answer to what comes next is “no turning back, no turning back.” The repetition makes the decision sound like something said out loud in order to hold oneself to it.

The second stanza names what is left and what is ahead. “The world behind me, the cross before me.” The next line imagines going alone, “though none go with me, still I will follow,” and then lays out the cost, “my cross I'll carry, till I see Jesus.” The hymn ends with a question put to the listener, “will you decide now to follow Jesus?” It is an invitation as well as a testimony, and so the closing line is a question, not an answer.

Taking up a cross and following is Luke 9:23. Not looking back is Luke 9:62, where Jesus says no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom. A decision made regardless of the crowd matches Joshua 24:15.