Becoming A Follower

I recently asked some teens whether they thought it was easier for a leader to be a follower or a follower to be a leader. The group split and shared their reasons for their thinking. What do you think? I shared how last fall I produced a theater show and how I had to make a lot of the main decisions for the show. Then this spring I did concessions for the next show. When people started asking me questions, I started making executive decisions thinking I was helping the leader. Instead I got a call from the producer reminding me those weren’t my decisions to make. It was difficult for me to go from making my own decisions to submitting and following what someone else decided because we had different opinions about how things should go.

In Matthew 4:19-20 we read how Jesus walked up to fishermen who owned their own businesses. It says, “Jesus called out to them, ‘Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!’ And they left their nets at once and followed him” (NLT). They immediately went from making executive decisions about their lives to submitting to Him before anyone knew who He was. Contrast that with Matthew 8:18-22 where a person called out to Jesus asking to follow Him and Jesus let him know he was going to have to give up everything. Then Jesus asked someone else to follow Him. The man replied that he would after his father died and he got his inheritance. Each of these people acted like they wanted to follow Jesus, but they weren’t ready to give up executive decisions for their lives.

In John 14:15 Jesus said, “If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments” (AMP). It’s easy to say a prayer asking Jesus into your heart. What’s hard is giving Him lordship over your life where you give up your rights to decide how you live. We identify with the commitment of the disciples, but often live like the two other people who didn’t want to submit. If you look at your life right now, would it reflect that Jesus is in charge of the decisions for your life or that He simply guides them? It’s hard to go from the leader of your life to following someone else deciding for you, especially since His way is at war with our flesh. His call still goes out to us to follow Him. Will you become a follower who keeps and obeys His commandments?

Photo by Chris Barbalis on Unsplash