'Follow me'

Come follow me and I will send you out to fish for people Matthew 4:19

Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead
Matthew 8:22

Sell your possessions … and then come follow me
Matthew 19:21

You must follow me
John 21:22

Following him means:

• we’re on a journey.
• he’s ahead of us.
• we leave the past behind us and follow him into the future.
• it’s not our job to plan the route – our only task is to keep him in front of us.
• the closer we’re following him the easier it is to hear what he’s saying.
• we do what he says.
• following him is more important than getting wealthy.
• following him is more important that becoming powerful.
• this relationship is more important than every other relationship we shall ever have.
• the example of what he wants us to do is continually in front of us.

Let me finish with a quote from Lucy Peppiatt’s book, ‘The Disciple’:

‘It means “following” in so many different ways. We follow him like we follow a dance partner. We follow his teachings. We follow the leading of his Spirit. We follow in his footsteps to the cross. We follow his example in loving the outcast, praying for the sick, and delivering those who are oppressed by demons. We follow him because he has won us: by his love and his beauty, his power and grace, his truth and forgiveness. We find, even in the worst times, that we refuse to follow anyone else, because he only has the words of eternal life. But nobody ever follows perfectly. Learning to follow Jesus is a personal journey and it takes a lifetime.’

‘The Disciple: on becoming truly human,’ by Lucy Peppiatt, Cascade Books, 2012. p150.