Follow Me

Matthew 16:24, “The Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

So much of this blog has been about self-denial, aka surrender, and taking up the cross. But there is a third act that is really pressing on me and in my conversations with God. It is the act of “follow Me.”

Follow Me was not only an invitation to all of His disciples when they met Him for the first time, but it was also an answer to doctrine and a command of all Christianity.

But does following Christ necessitate the need to go into ministry? Does following Him mean we are required to go into the mission field? Can we follow Him in a normal, mundane life? If following Christ is an answer to doctrine, then is adherence to doctrine not following Jesus?

Oswald Chambers says this, “There is a vast difference between devotion to a person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause – He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself.”

We must ask ourselves, are we devoted to a preacher or priest? Are we devoted to a denomination? Or are we devoted to Christ? Even outside of the church relationships we must ask, where is our devotion? Who are we following? Do we follow Christ as closely as we follow a sports team or entertainment personality? Do we follow Jesus or do we follow a child, or a spouse or a boyfriend or girlfriend, or boss, or politician?        

Matthew quotes Jesus pretty benignly, but listen to the same quote from Luke, “If anyone come to Me and does not hate his father, and mother, wife, and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also… and whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me…” (Luke 14:26-27) This is the degree of separation that Christ wants to see in our following. He is not commanding us to hate, but saying that our willingness to follow Him should and will be so far and above any willingness to follow anyone else, including those who we love dearest. But how do we do it?

How do we follow Christ? What if I have a job and a family, how do I follow Christ? What does following Christ even look like?

What it looks like for you I have no idea. What it looks like in others that are doing it (in my opinion) is pretty clear. What it looks like for me seems pretty meager and meaningless when compared to societies definition of “following Christ, “ but it brings me much joy and peace. For that matter my following of Christ seems void of impact when I compare it to those I believe to be truly following Him like my friend Jim Spivey. Not that I envy where Christ is leading them, it is just the path Jesus is leading me on it dramatically different. And likewise your path is going to be dramatically different as well.

Be encouraged that the bulk of your prayers are silent. Enjoy that your relationship to our Savior is private. Rest in your responsibilities being mundane. Never fret that your job is ordinary. Just keep following Him, always on guard that it is Christ you are following and not a doctrine, or person, or cause. And when the path He leads you on gets difficult, have peace that He is with you, and faith that He is working all things together for good because He love you.