If you had to put all your eggs in one basket, what basket would it be? For me, it is the Lord Jesus Christ. I am willing to stake all for him. Though I follow him poorly and sometimes very ineffectively, I am a follower of him.
How are you doing as a follower of Christ? Or maybe you don't claim to be his follower but have given the idea some consideration. What does it mean?
There are three things I see in the scripture about what it means to be a follower of Christ:
It Means Following the Person of Christ.
It's not about following a program nor following another follower of Christ, but it requires following Jesus himself. It is a personal fellowship and follow-ship.
To follow Jesus means we have to trust in him.
I had a friend who used to ask: "Are you ready to go?"
"Where are we going?" I would usually reply.
"Don't you trust me?" was invariably his answer. I would usually tag along just out of curiosity.
When we apply this to following Jesus, we might hear Jesus say as he said simply to all of his disciples: "Follow me." It is not upon us to ask where. It means any time, anywhere and at any cost.
This may mean forsaking something we value much for what we now know to value most. For Levi, the tax collector, it meant leaving a lucrative business. For Peter, James, John and Andrew, it meant they would forsake being fishermen to become fishers of men.
But it also meant they would enjoy the blessings of being a follower of Christ. Peter recognized that following Christ was a matter of life and death when he said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (John 6.68)."
Jesus said: "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life John 8.12."
He also said that every person who would follow him, forsaking so much else, would have reward both now and in eternity (Mark 10.28-30).
Yes, it is worth it to follow Jesus.
Keep a watch out for:
Part II - Following the principles of Christ - and
Part III- Following the purpose of Christ
