I have decided to follow Jesus is a song that comes from the Assam region of India. It was made popular in the United States by Dr. Billy Graham. The song’s origins are unclear. One legend attributes it to the last words of an Indian Christian martyr, who is said to have recited these words as he died. His words were later made into a hymn by an Indian missionary, Sadhu Sundar Singh. Another source credits an Indian missionary pastor, Simon Marak, with the song, saying he used it in his missionary work because it fit well with other native religious music and that it became a theme for his ministry.
Even though hymnologists aren’t able to verify exactly how the song was created, the text has an important significance for us today:
I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
No turning back, no turning back
Though none go with me, I still will follow
Though none go with me, I still will follow
Though none go with me, I still will follow
No turning back, no turning back
Our faith is a gift from God, and faith in our lives is always the result of God’s grace reaching out to us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that faith is one of the cardinal virtues (along with hope and love) – meaning that it is a supernatural virtue, infused in us by God. We don’t decide on our own out of nowhere to get up and follow Jesus – it is always the initiative of the Holy Spirit that inspires our faith. Even so, in faith, our human will cooperates with God’s divine grace (CCC 155). We still have a role to play in our decision to follow Jesus with our lives.
This week as we enter the holiest days of the year, in which we remember the final events of Jesus’ life and how he suffered for each of us, it’s appropriate to remember that we always have this choice. Today, this week, we can decide to pick up the crosses of our lives and follow Jesus as he heads to Jerusalem, to the Last Supper with his disciples where he washes their feet and eats a final meal with them, to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, to his trial before Pontius Pilate, to the cross, to the grave, and, on Easter, to the other side of death.
We can go, too. Jesus is leading the way, and we can follow. That’s the invitation of this song for us this week.
Here are some different versions of this hymn to listen to and pray with this week:
A beautiful meditative version sung by Nepali musicians (Yeshu Ko Pace is the title in Nepali)
Kaoma Chende, with a gospel quartet version where he sings all four parts himself (so fun to watch)
*For more information and background on this hymn, here is an in-depth blog post Dr. C. Michael Hawn, director of the Hymn Society and of the Doctor of Pastoral Music program at Perkins School of Theology.
C. Michael Hawn, “History of Hymns: I Have Decided to Follow Jesus,” (June 11, 2020), https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/history-of-hymns-i-have-decided-to-follow-jesus (accessed 4 April 2022).