Last week I walked outside of the YMCA where I get some exercise and noticed something that put a smile on my face. There was a line of about 20 children, probably all 5 and under, grabbing onto a rope, 10 or so on either side, and an adult in the front (and one behind) saying, "Come on, keep up, follow me." I smiled as I watched this "duck waddling" group of children all keep in step as they held on to the rope and kept walking.
What is it about following that seems so child like? Scriptures, and especially the Gospels where Jesus talked a lot about it, speak a lot on following.
Mark 1:16-18 (NIV)
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
Luke 5:27-28 (NASB)
27 After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me."
28 And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.
These two examples seem easy to digest. What we must remember is that they didn't know Jesus, and didn't know what we know about what would happen when they chose to follow him. AND, once someone chose to "follow", it didn't get easier:
Luke 9:23 (NIV)
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Or how about this series of incidents immediately following in Luke 9...
Luke 9:57-62 (NIV)
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
59 He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
Interestingly, Jesus never said, "Believe my arguments". He said, "Follow me".
I remember years ago a teacher say, "If you can talk someone into the Kingdom of God, someone else can talk them out of it."
We're not called to argue people into believing in God, we're told to follow Jesus' way, follow Jesus, and in following, learn from him to live in such a way that this following is real.
It's that position of being a learner, an apprentice. There we hear the words of a teacher... "Ok, listen, follow my thoughts, do what I do here..., do it your own way, but learn how to do this...".
We follow because there is wisdom, experience, knowledge, and even safety in doing so.
Jesus tells a story of people building houses. Some houses are built foolishly, on sand foundations that shift and move and can't stand up to the storms of life. Some houses are built wisely on a firm foundation and when storms come they survive because they were built soundly.
Each person is building something...each of us are "house builders". Each of our houses will go through storms, tests, trials, character building things disguised as gut wrenching "why?"...
It is not the lack of storms that identifies our following. We cannot choose what will come our way. All we can do, say is, "Lord please help me to stay close to you, because I trust you, and I want to follow you."
What is it about following that seems so child like? Scriptures, and especially the Gospels where Jesus talked a lot about it, speak a lot on following.
Mark 1:16-18 (NIV)
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
Luke 5:27-28 (NASB)
27 After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me."
28 And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.
These two examples seem easy to digest. What we must remember is that they didn't know Jesus, and didn't know what we know about what would happen when they chose to follow him. AND, once someone chose to "follow", it didn't get easier:
Luke 9:23 (NIV)
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Or how about this series of incidents immediately following in Luke 9...
Luke 9:57-62 (NIV)
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
59 He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
Interestingly, Jesus never said, "Believe my arguments". He said, "Follow me".
I remember years ago a teacher say, "If you can talk someone into the Kingdom of God, someone else can talk them out of it."
We're not called to argue people into believing in God, we're told to follow Jesus' way, follow Jesus, and in following, learn from him to live in such a way that this following is real.
It's that position of being a learner, an apprentice. There we hear the words of a teacher... "Ok, listen, follow my thoughts, do what I do here..., do it your own way, but learn how to do this...".
We follow because there is wisdom, experience, knowledge, and even safety in doing so.
Jesus tells a story of people building houses. Some houses are built foolishly, on sand foundations that shift and move and can't stand up to the storms of life. Some houses are built wisely on a firm foundation and when storms come they survive because they were built soundly.
Each person is building something...each of us are "house builders". Each of our houses will go through storms, tests, trials, character building things disguised as gut wrenching "why?"...
It is not the lack of storms that identifies our following. We cannot choose what will come our way. All we can do, say is, "Lord please help me to stay close to you, because I trust you, and I want to follow you."
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