Recent comments by presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann have stirred up the discussion about gay marriage once again. While speaking to a group of high school…
06
Aug
2012
Leah Randall
The Author
Leah Randall
Leah is: Mother of five and grandmother of two—looking forward to the birth of a third grandchild; part time helper to a small business owner but also his full time wife (so, I can shamelessly say, “Yes, I’m sleeping with the boss”); “Stupid Human” to three extremely indulgent miniature schnauzers, and lifelong friend to a wise and relaxed elderly cat; an avid reader; sometimes “editor” and sometimes “writer”; working on being a better “listener”. Follower of Jesus—“Love radically, recklessly and relentlessly!"
Explain the two words spoken by Jesus—“Follow me”—in 1000 words or less? Hmmm. Maybe I should just stop right there and let you think this through on your own.
My understanding of what it means to follow Him has changed over the years. Perhaps our understanding of “following” is supposed to change over time as our maturity in the Lord grows in response to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the ways we experience Him with others. Because I can’t claim to know everything about following Jesus, the best I can offer is to share some of the things I’ve learned about following Jesus—beginning with what “following Jesus” is not.
Following Jesus is not the same thing as:
- Following the teachings of Jesus, or following doctrines, creeds, or denominational statements of faith.
- Following a Bible Reading Plan, memorizing scripture, or claiming a “life verse”.
- Following “religious convictions”, or acting upon those convictions, alone or as a group, purely for the sake of acting upon convictions.
- Attending a weekly worship service, and maybe a midweek prayer meeting or Bible study, or meeting with a small group or accountability partner.
There isn’t anything wrong with doing these things. In fact, I follow Jesus today because others encouraged me to do these things over the course of my spiritual journey. “Christian practices” are not the same thing as following Jesus. I know a lot about Jesus by studying, talking about or meditating on these things—but knowing a lot about Jesus isn’t the same as knowing Jesus. It helps to know Who you’re following.
“Follow me.” Two words caused Simon and Andrew to drop their fishing nets. James and John “left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after Him.” (Mark 1:20 Amplified). Levi, son of Alphaeus, left his tax booth: “he arose and joined Him and His disciples and sided with His party and accompanied Him.” (Mark 2:14 Amp). Philip ran to find his friend Nathanael and they too followed Him. Twelve men, in all, apparently left their life’s work to follow Jesus.
I find it interesting that the Amplified Version conveys that the words “follow me” carry the connotation, “side with my party”. Against the backdrop of first century Hebrew culture—oppressed by the conquering Romans, looking for Messiah to deliver the Children of Israel and fulfill all the promises of the Old Testament—we read Nathanael’s confession, “Teacher, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49) and the reason the twelve “followed” begins to come into focus. Over the course of the next three and a half years, these men—and later Saul of Tarsus, among others—would come to understand that following Jesus isn’t about following teachings, doctrines, scriptures, convictions or attending religious meetings. Men and women down through centuries found, in the Gospels and other writings of the New Testament, not something to believe in and follow, but rather Someone to believe in and follow.
To follow Jesus is to follow a living Person!
“And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.”__John 1:14 (Amp)
“For it has pleased [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in Him permanently.”__ Colossians 1:19 (Amp)
Following a living Person, who is the Christ, comes with a cost, which He explained Himself to His disciples:
“And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].” __Luke 9:23 (Amp)
What do we have to gain by following this all-wonderful, all-glorious, all-divine Person? What is the outcome we look forward to? For starters, eternal life! Make that eternal, abundant life, sustained by Christ who is our life! Many more “rewards” are promised to faithful followers who overcome the trials and temptations of this world—check out the letters to the seven churches in John’s last book!
There’s another important thing I’ve learned about following Jesus: it’s something we do together.
Following Jesus is following a living Person…together!
“When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory. __Colossians 3:4 (Amp)
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I spent many years learning a lot about Jesus, the Bible, and the “church”. 5-7 years ago, I got hungry to see in my lifetime, the events seen in scripture, especially the New Testament. I have since learned that very few people seem to actually be following Jesus, so it gets difficult to find examples to spur you on. I find people like to discuss theology, churchology, demonology, and angelology; but jesus seems and sounds shallow as I talk with them. I Lo-o-o-o-o-og to know Jesus and for Him to know me.
Amen, Terry. He truly is the desire of every longing heart, but people sometimes look for their heart’s desire in the wrong places. It is a blessing to be on this journey with you, following Jesus. Thanks for stopping by!
“Men and women down through centuries found, in the Gospels and other writings of the New Testament, not something to believe in and follow, but rather Someone to believe in and follow.”
Amen! Leah, I’m always blessed by your sharing and the wisdom our Lord has given you. In fact, those of us who follow Jesus are already experiencing eternal life, because we have His life in us now and it will never end. Of course, one day the mundane, fleshly life will fall away, and then it’ll be much more glorious when we stand in His presence — His light.
So…is this what “blessed to be a blessing” means, my dear sister and friend? To be affirmed that our sharing blesses another? Rest assured you have blessed me indeed this day. Having a living Person to believe in and follow means we need not debate the things of theology, churchology, demonology, etc. our brother Terry referenced in his comment. Until we stand fully in His light, let us show forth Christ by exalting Him as THE PERSON we follow…together!
great article Leah! Yep, following Him together, thinking I am in agreement sis,
Thankful to God that I can follow Him together with you dear Sista’.
Yo’ “twisted sista”? Oh, that’s right! One more thing I learned about following Jesus! He straightens us OUT! All things new! Love you Jeeanneee!
Thank you, Leah. The thing I overlooked for awhile was the all-human side of Jesus, which sort of took the form of me and Christ against the world. The message, not the people, was the only important thing. Funny to recall such a time.
He wept, he was tempted, he got angry, he was scared. His friends were very dear to him in an earthy way. The Father did the works. Very, very human…and this is divine. The divine became the maturation of the human heart and in Jesus this was fully developed. He had the real capacity to love friend and foe alike. This is to be as perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect. To follow is not to tag along but to go where Jesus went in his heart. To be as Christ was in the world is have this love.
For me, the Bible is just a guide, a set of directions, on how to realize this love. The real authority is in the direct relationship, through grace and the Holy Spirit, with Christ. This is where the power is, for the word is Christ. Doctrine is the form, not the substance, of the word.
Love is the substance of the word and for that we must be hidden in Christ, completely abandoned to divine providence as the only support to our faith. It is my experience that far, far too many Christians find such radical abandon a danger to faith.
In that abandon we become just a means without ends. The moment alone is lit by the lamp unto our feet, past and future lost in darkness, relying solely on the illumination of Spirit for direction. This total trust demands relinguishing any sense of control or safety, any need for certainty or comfort. Expectations are zero.
Thank you for that lovely comment, Jerry…for bringing your piece of the puzzle, which is a Piece of the living Person we follow together. Indeed, the written word points to the Living Word and it is He we follow. Amazing how when my expectation became nothing more than that the Lord would do all things (which is itself a huge expectation) I began to see more clearly the thing he is doing. Other than that, my expectations truly are zero. Total trust, the necessary ingredient. Everything else must be stripped away until we are left with a consuming passion to “follow”…simply follow. Glad you are on this journey “together” with us. Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you for thanking me, Leah. This path is quite a wondrous adventure, isn’t it. Glad we share this beautiful road trip. (Er, no need for you to thank me for me thanking you for thanking me, unless you have nothing better to do. Lol (Translated: Lots of love).
I’m just now getting around to reading the posts for the synchroblog. Like you my perspective of what it means to follow Jesus has changed over the years and like you I assume it will continue to evolve. I particularly liked the way you emphasized that as good and right and helpful as Christian practices can be they themselves or the practice of them is not “following Jesus”
Thanks for stopping by and for commenting to let me know it “resonates” with you, Liz. Looking forward to “following together” with you.
“Follow Me,” but you gotta repudiate all those others. And I love your scriptures from John 1 and Colossians 1; thanks!