“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)
Jesus used the term, “follow me,” many times in the Gospels. It’s an interesting term when you think about it; to “follow” someone implies motion, action, and moving toward something. Jesus did not say, “Sit with me” or “Come stand with me.” Jesus is going places, and He wants us to go with Him (John 12:26).
But what does it mean, to “follow” Jesus? I suppose it covers a lot of things but there are at least three things that immediately come to mind:
We need to follow His examples (John 13:15, 1 Peter 2:21)
We need to follow His teaching (Matthew 4:23, Luke 6:46-49)
We need to follow His commandments (John 12:48, Matthew 28:19-20)
When we follow the directions given to us in the Bible, then we will enjoy God’s blessing in everything we do (Joshua 1:8). The popular expression, WWJD (What would Jesus do?) should apply to all areas of our life. That is how we follow Jesus.
But consider also Psalm 1:1:
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”
Notice the subtle progression from walking, to standing, to sitting. When we decide to stop following Jesus, and decide to walk in the counsel of the wicked, we end up sitting on our butts, mad at the world.
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