Following Is Action

January 17, 2022

Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me. John 12:26 NLT

It sounds like a ridiculous misunderstanding. Everyone understands that if you play the simple game “Simon Says” or “Follow the Leader,” you do what the leader does. You take the same actions. Even the smallest preschooler knows you can’t follow Mommy unless you move. The dictionary says to follow means to “go or come after a person or thing; to move or travel behind; to imitate.” But who needs a dictionary to understand that? We all understand following.

Except, it seems, when it comes to following Jesus. We say and sing phrases like “I have decided to follow Jesus,” but basically we handle following Jesus this way: We believe Jesus is our Savior. We say a prayer asking for forgiveness of our sins. He does it, and we become Christians or Jesus-followers. Hopefully we slowly but surely become better people. We go to heaven when we die, and we have a big reunion with our family and friends.

The way Jesus actually planned it, and the early disciples saw it, is like this: The great truth of my life is that Jesus loves me and the entire human race so much that He died a sacrificial death, wiping out the debt of sin for all who receive Him so we can be restored to relationship with God. They saw Him alive again three days later with the power of life and death in His hands. They knew conclusively that He was God. He had invited them to follow Him, so that’s what they did. When you truly understand that He is GOD, and you get to follow Him, that’s what you do. They gave up everything and did what Jesus did. They understood that He loved the entire world just as He loved them, giving His own life to make sure all could have the relationship with His Father for which they were created. He designed His entire life around creating and using opportunities to “fish” for people.

That’s the way His followers lived too. They pressed through every obstacle, finding great joy in loving as He loved, living as He lived, serving as He served. Getting to heaven was not the goal—it was simply a perk of living life now as a faithful follower of the One who had overcome the world. They didn’t focus on heaven—when they spoke of it, they mostly talked of the joy of being reunited face to face with Jesus, not their families. Their believing families were an added blessing of living life with Jesus. When they arrived in heaven, can you imagine the multitudes of grateful people who surrounded them, people who would never have discovered life that is really life without the disciples actually getting up and following Jesus?

Here’s the bottom line: If what you call “following Jesus” hasn’t radically changed your priorities, your loves, your loyalties, and your lifestyle, you’re not following. You’re simply a believer, and a fairly limited one at that. That’s not a condemning statement; it’s a sorrowful statement. You are missing out on the life that is truly life. Jesus said if you want to serve Him, you must follow Him. Following Him is being where He is, doing what He does.

• Does the evidence label me a believer or a follower?