Following Jesus
And he said to them, “follow me, i will make you fishers of men”
Matthew 4:19
To follow Jesus is to respond to His calling. His call leads us to repentance of our sins, and a belief in Him as the Son of God, sent to the world by God the Father, to redeem, reconcile and restore us back into relationship with Him (John 5:24).
Following Jesus is not merely reciting a prayer and being transformed instantaneously. It is denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following (Mark 8:34). So what does this look like?
The first example given to us in the Bible of those who followed Jesus, was that of His disciples. We see the disciples hear and obey Jesus’ teachings as they journey with Him wherever the road leads. Jesus instructs all of those who follow Him to hear and obey His words (Matt 7:24-27). Obedience to His words and teachings prove to provide sustenance in the life we live, in all its mountain tops and valleys.
Jesus is the ultimate example we ought to follow. He lived a life of devotion to God through prayer and by loving and serving others in humility – followers of Jesus are called to live a Christlike life in following this example.
In following Jesus, we are given right-standing (righteousness/justification) with God and arecontinually being made to be more and more like Jesus (sanctification). We are empowered to follow Jesus by the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit empowers us, He transforms us inwardly into the image of Jesus and we begin to think like Jesus, act like Jesus and desire what Jesus desires (1 John 2:6).
A big part of being transformed to be like Jesus, is knowing Jesus Himself. We get to know who Jesus is by reading, meditating and praying through the Bible as well as being a part of a healthy church community with other followers of Jesus.
If you would like to find out more about what it means to follow Jesus, we would love to hear from you – please reach out anytime here.