Follow Me

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24 NIV)

I see it all over the Internet ... "Follow me on Twitter"—"Follow my Blog."

And I wonder—if people really did follow us, what would they see?

When Jesus invited people to follow Him it was more than just viewing a few 144 character tweets or a few paragraphs of His thoughts on a blog. He invited them to walk along side Him 24/7. They saw Him when things were good (palm leaves and praises) and they saw Him when things were bad (death threats and rock throwing). They saw Him do miracles and they saw Him weep. They watched Him pray in agony and feast in victory. They watched how He reacted to each situation and they measured His reaction against what He preached to see if His walk lined up with His talk.

Guess what ... people are still doing that today. They are watching us (Christ-followers) to see if our walk lines up with our talk. Do we react to hard times in a way that shows we fully trust God?  Do we react to people who are rude, slow, or mean in a way that says, I love you? (We are supposed to love others, right?)

Easy to do? No, but, then that's what Jesus meant when he said "take up your cross and follow me". Our first reaction is the human one. We want to strike back, express our impatience, stand up for ourselves, but laying aside those initial reactions to respond in a Christ-like manner is what taking up your cross is all about.

Father, teach us to follow Christ in such a way that those who are watching us will be drawn to Him. Teach us to lay aside our desires and to take up our cross and follow Him. Amen.—Jan Christiansen