Day 15: Abide and Follow

Come Before Him in Worship: Take a moment to fix your eyes on the Teacher. Relax your mind and allow every other voice to pass away. Remember that you are His sheep, and the sheep know the sound of the Shepherd’s voice. Sit for a moment in the assurance that His commitment to your wholeness is unwavering. Thank Him for the promise that every work He begins, He will finish! And as you step into the truth of this devotional, receive it from the mouth of your loving Teacher.

“Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” 1 John 2:6

Devotion: Jesus was our perfect example and He calls us to follow His lead in every way. This verse tells us that, if we abide in Jesus, then we will look like Jesus. Now, not perfectly, but there’s forgiveness and grace for that (1 John 1:9). However, progressive transformation into the image of Jesus is a proof, if you will, of the reality of our relationship with Him. Certainly, this can seem overwhelming (and, more often than not, we can only see how we are not measuring up), but as we learned on Day 2, it is only our connection with Jesus, the vine, that enables us to accomplish anything in the Christian life! And, as this verse points out, it happens as we “walk” with (or in the same way as ) Him.

This implies that the Christian life is a moment-by-moment, day-by-day, journey of putting one foot (spiritually speaking) in front of the other as we follow after Christ. A life of continuous abiding does not happen all at once, but we come closer and closer to it as we set out to follow Jesus step-by-step at the beginning of each day. 2 Corinthians 5:7, tells us that this is also a walk of faith (see Day 3). So, if we start our days seeking to abide in Jesus (as we talked about in week 1), at any point in our day, we can, in faith, remind ourselves that we are in Him and that He is keeping us and that, by faith, He who began a good work in us, will carry it on to completion (Phil. 1:6). So, it’s not about emotion, or a feeling of well being or of strength, but agreeing and believing in that moment that our place is in our Lord, for as Amos 3:3 says, “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” Let us agree to walk with Jesus! And, as we do, let us go about our day believing that He is holding us and looking for ways that He wants us to join Him in His Kingdom work and purposes. For we’ve agreed to walk with Him!

This coming week we will look at several of the ways Jesus calls us to follow Him, and how we should look to Him to perfect these ways in us, as we abide step-by-step with Him.

Respond in Prayer: Father, I desire today to walk as your child in step with Your Spirit. I want to see what You are doing, and commit my ways to these things. How can I look for You and enjoy Your tangible presence as my day moves along? How can I know your heart in the moment to moment? Oh faithful Father, reorient my ways and structure my days to prioritize this.

What lies have I believed that could lead me away from the purity of following You? What complications have been added that need to be removed? I praise You for your steadiness in leading me! I praise You for Your patience over me! Oh what a glorious King I have!