Follow Me???

Follow me on Twitter. Follow me on Facebook. Follow me on Blogger. Follow me on Pinterest. All these things that we now have that we can follow people on. We follow people that we know and love, we follow people who are "celebrities", we even follow people on all these things that we may not even like but we follow them anyway.  All to often we find ourselves spending hours upon hours "following" all these things and wasting away our days.  If we don't like what someone says or posts, in just a matter of seconds we can  move on to the next best thing.  Thousands of years ago, someone else said "Follow Me".  But when He said this, he wasn't talking about Twitter or Facebook.

When Jesus asked people to follow him, he was not talking about clicking a button and checking out his latest tweet.  Jesus wanted them to drop and leave everything and literally follow him.  When Jesus invited Peter and Andrew to follow Him, they walked away from their jobs. Others left family, wealth and possessions. He gently turned one away because the young man wouldn't give up riches. But those that followed gave up their rights in exchange for a relationship with the Messiah.

"Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."" Mark 10:21

Jesus called the disciples to follow him, and He has called us as believers to follow him as well.  

"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'" Mark 8:34

Following Jesus was an all or nothing invitation. There isn't one example in Scripture where Jesus made an exception. And yet too many times I find myself following Jesus with only part of me. In fact, at times I'd prefer the Twitter version of following Jesus. Quick and entertaining, and done from behind a screen. When all the spiritual decorations are removed, the truth is I've tried to follow Jesus with only part of me. I consider His invitation, and I'm happy to follow Him with my mind and hands. And yet I know Jesus wants more. He doesn't want a 140-character relationship with me. He doesn't want my obedience a few times a day when I think about it. He doesn't want my convenient offerings of service. Following Jesus means being His shadow...walking in His footsteps to the leper colony, being a friend of the outcast, facing scorn from the religious community, and standing firm for what is right in spite of the cost. It means following Him in the very essence of who I am: The deep place where I submit my rights to the One who gave them up for me. When I look at it in that light, I realize once again why I want to follow Jesus fully. He gave up everything for me. How can I do any less? My footsteps on this earthly journey following Jesus are not always steady and strong. I've stumbled many times. Yet I know that following anyone else offers only temporary peace and joy. Only Jesus leads me from darkness to light, and from death to life. I don't expect I'll find that on Twitter.

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'"  John 8:12