What does it mean to follow God? If you are like me you probably follow a ton of people on Facebook or Twitter. And like me you probably see their updates and maybe even click on their page or pictures from time to time to keep in touch and see what they are up to. What if God had a Facebook? Would we treat Him the same way as everyone else we follow. Would we "like" the pictures of the miracles that He posted or "block" Him if He posted too much annoying scripture?
How do we really follow God? The crazy thing is, the Bible is very clear about this. Jesus Himself said many things about what it really means to following Him. Here are just a few .......
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me". Matt 16:24
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me". Matt 16:24
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life". John 8:12
He went on to say "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings". John 8:31
"Obey my teachings" He said. There is a big difference between knowing what to do and actually doing it. This is a dividing line for me. So if we "obey" then Jesus himself would categorize us as His disciples, or followers. I think Francis Chan said it best when he describes how our children obey us.
What if you told you child, "go clean your room". Then, what if you child came back a hour or two later and said, "Dad, I heard what you said and I studied room cleaning and I understand it now". You would probably say, "yeah, but did you clean your room"? Then you child says to you, "Dad, not only did I study room cleaning, but I even learned it in Greek and last week, several other kids got together and discussed it for an hour and half. At this point you would probably be a little confused if not a little angry at their answer. Then to top it all off what if they added, "last weekend we heard a teacher cover the subject of room cleaning and a band even sang a few songs about it, it was awesome! Get where I am going here?
To many times, this is we, as followers of Christ often respond to God. As His children how do you think He feels when we understand, participate and are excited about His will but we don't actually live it out? Many people check the box that says "Christian", but so few actually make the effort to learn and obey His holy commands.
He loves us all and he has a plan for us. It is up to us to figure it out and with His help, abide in it.
blessings,
dave
Do we assume that as a Christ follower that we are actively, passionately following God?
