John 12:24-26
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. 26 "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. NASU
When I was a child I played a popular game of "Follow the Leader." I am sure all of you have played this same game and are familiar with the rules. The leader of this game could go wherever they wished and do whatever they want to do. For example, the leader could walk zig zag, backwards or even jump. The leader could choose to walk waving their arms in the air, whistle or even hop one one foot. Whatever it was they did, the followers would have to do the same thing. We never questioned the leader we just did it and laughed out loud knowing that our turn to be leader was coming soon!
As children of God we are called to Follow Jesus. In the Gospel's of the Bible Jesus says to "Follow Me" at least 20 different times. Out of curiosity, I looked up the word "Follow." The Greek word is Akolouqeo which means to follow one who proceeds; accompany him; to join one as a disciple.
There are 3 different aspects of the word follow. My first initial thought of this word, is that it reminds me of the game, and that we are to simply follow the Leader. The leader being Jesus. If Jesus goes, we are to go. If Jesus stops, we are to stop. If Jesus walks through the fire than we are to walk through the fire.
We are to follow Jesus wherever He leads us exactly the way we played the game as children. Following Jesus is not always easy because many times we are lead into areas that are outside our comfort zone. As humans, we would prefer to stay where we are most comfortable. Although the Lord can use us within our comfort zones, the greater blessings come when we follow Jesus outside that zone of comfort. This is where part two of the word follow comes into play.
To follow: To join one as a disciple. Well, I had to then look up the word disciple. The
Greek word is Mathetes which means learner. According to dictionary. com, a disciple is one who is a pupil or one who adheres to the doctrine of another; follower. If we are truly following Christ, then we are just not going through the motions, but we are also learning as we go. Following the doctrine of Christ....well, that is simple the Bible. The Bible is God's inspired words (2 Timothy 3:16) The Bible is our Road Map, our directions, our encouragement and our example from the greatest Leader of all, God himself. Without this valuable tool, following Jesus would be almost impossible.
I have heard both my dad and husband talk about there experiences in the military. They have shared a training exercise that they had to do. They were given a map of coordinates and then dropped in the middle of nowhere. The goal was to find their way back to base by using the map. Imagine what would happen if they had left their map at home...When we do not use the Bible as our map, we would be lost in the world of the unfamiliar which is outside the walls of our comfort zone.
The third aspect of the word follow comes from the verb form of the word disciple. A verb is an action word. The action word for disciple is to teach or train. We are instructed to teach others to become disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).
As a mother, I have passed on my childhood and teenage experiences with my children to either encourage them or to warn them of possible dangers; and to keep them safe and out of trouble. We are to share our experiences with other brothers and sisters in Christ. To share our experiences of following Jesus outside our comfort zones. Sharing our experiences can either encourage Christan Believers or warn them in hopes that they will be kept from harm and dangers. We are to also teach others to use the Road Map, the Bible so that they may learn to follow Jesus on their own paths that will lead them outside their comfort zones.
To sum all this up: Jesus wants us to follow Him. He has the plan and the Bible is our road map. Jesus wants us to follow Him even if it requires us to go outside our comfort zone. Just was we followed the leader in our childhood game, no questions asked, that is the same way we ought to follow Christ. We ought to be learning all we can about what it means to follow Christ and what His road map is telling us. In return, we should share with others all that we have learned as we walk as disciples following Jesus outside the realms of our comfort zone.
