Such a simple phrase.
When someone says’ ‘follow me,’ do you hesitate, or do you immediately follow without a single thought for your safety? Are your steps faltered, or do you blindly follow your whisperer? To follow someone requires trust in that person. Trust that they will not lead you astray, or into danger, or trouble. The phrase, ‘the blind leading the blind,’ comes from people who follow blindly and don’t know where they are going, or often even why they are going to where ever it is they are going. (Much like the politicians of the day. Just sign it and we will read it later.) It is okay to have blind trust if that person, has proven themselves before, and now, if they say follow me, you just do it, without question. Jesus asked his disciples to trust him and to follow him. Just as a shepherd speaks to his flock and they follow him, because the sheep know with the shepherd is safety. As a youth one of our camp songs was:
My Lord Knows the Way
My Lord knows the way through the wilderness,
All I have to do is follow.
My Lord knows the way through the wilderness,
All I have to do is follow.
Strength for today is mine all the way,
And all that I need for tomorrow.
My Lord knows the way through,
All I have to do is follow.
We come up with many excuses not to follow Jesus, and the things we learn in the Bible. I work so many hours, the kids need my attention, and I can’t afford the gas to do any extra running. And the excuses just keep on coming. This song: Follow Me; by Ira Stamphill, best describes the point I am trying to make.
I traveled on a lonely road and no one seemed to care.
The burden on my weary back had bowed me to despair;
I oft complained to Jesus how folks were treating me,
And then I heard Him say so tenderly,
“My feet were also weary, upon the Calvary road;
The cross became so heavy, I fell beneath the load,
Be faithful weary pilgrim the morning I can see,
Just lift your cross and follow close to me.”
“I work so hard for Jesus” I often boast and say
“I’ve sacrificed a lot of things to walk the narrow way,
I gave up fame and fortune, I’m worth a lot to Thee”
And then I hear Him gently say to me,
“I left the throne of glory and counted it but loss,
My hands were nailed in anger upon a cruel cross,
But now we’ll make the journey with your hand safe in mine,
So lift your cross and follow close to me.
Oh Jesus if I die upon a foreign field someday,
‘Twould be no more than love demands, no less could I repay,
“No greater love hath mortal man than for a friend to die”
These are the words He gently spoke to me,
“If just a cup of water I place within your hand
Then just a cup of water is all that I demand.
But if by death to living they can Thy glory see,
I’ll take my cross and follow close to Thee.
As parents we need to teach our children not to make excuses for their shortcomings. It would be better just to say I don’t want to than to make a lame excuse about not wanting to live the Christian life. Jesus said lukewarm followers make him want to spit them out of his mouth. Make an effort or don’t, just don’t make an excuse. After all, it isn’t supposed to be about us and our comfort, it is supposed to be about serving him!
We as authors know firsthand that excuses don’t cut it in the world of journalism. You either perform or you don’t, because excuses don’t turn out any product.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Matthew 16:24
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
I Corinthians 11:1
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
John 8:12
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
John 10:27