“Follow Me.” Mark 1:17, 2:14
In the final analysis, walking in the presence of Jesus comes down to two simple little words: “Follow Me”. Those of us who want more of the presence of God have to be willing to be where He is, doing what He’s doing. To be with Him where He is, we must want His will and His plan for us.
This isn’t legalism. It’s simply the nature of all relationships. Being together and working toward similar goals is what greases the skids. There simply isn’t any other way… But the legitimate question is raised: What is His will? What is His plan?
Consider those two words “Follow Me” from Jesus. They answer almost every question regarding what we are supposed to do as Christians. “Follow Me.” It’s Jesus’ personal invitation which He extends to us who want to be His disciples.
“Follow Me.” What does it mean? First, let’s look at a few common misconceptions that you may never have heard taught overtly, but they are still easy to pick up subtly:
He didn’t say “Follow My followers,” which is incredibly easy to get caught up in. We find it so easy to compare ourselves to others and depending on who we compare ourselves to, we come away depressed because we’ll never measure up; or we come away
arrogant and self-satisfied because we think we’re light-years ahead of ‘them’.
He didn’t say “Follow My leaders”. To look at the church today we might think that that is exactly what He said. Remember the Israelites at Sinai. God might have met with His people, but the people cried out, “Oh no, not with us. Meet with our leaders.” And thus began thousands of years of dodging personal, intimate relationships with God.
God wants to meet with us, and today, we are still often pointing to other believers. We point at our leaders… “Meet with them and they’ll bring us the message”.
This is completely opposite to our Father God, who has raised up a Church of sons and daughters, not a church of superstars and ordinaries. No one is a pawn and no ones a celebrity in a functional family. But God has transformed sinners into brothers and sisters who can come boldly before their Abba, Daddy, not as little commoners who have to get their weekly dose of Jesus from a special caste of VIPs.
The counsel of fellow believers is often wonderful, useful, helpful… but it isn’t the same thing as the counsel of God. And when push comes to shove, it is the counsel of God that is the only place of truth, mercy, and safety.
Am I against the counsel of other believers? Am I against leadership. No… Both are given to us by God. But virtually everything God has given us that is good and right can become wrong and harmful when it’s mishandled or misapplied. And when we expect our friends to be God’s voice in our lives, or when we expect our leaders to be something other than our brothers and sister we have misused them.
When we look to brothers and sisters as super spirituals and ordinaries, captains and privates, we disparage the image of God that dwells within each Christian through the Holy Spirit.
To those who want to walk with Jesus, He says, “Follow Me.” There is no other way to follow Him than to come to Him and invite Him to lead… and then FOLLOW.
More on this next time…