Sometimes we make things difficult that are actually straight forward. Have you ever put together a tent? I have seen people spend what seemed like hours in a jumbled up mess. Then, suddenly, they looked at the directions in a different way and poof their tent was up in ten minutes. (no, I won’t admit that the person with the jumbled mess I was watching was really myself!)
I wonder if the same is true when we talk about following God. We use big words like discipleship, sanctification, and commitment when we could just as easily use words like follow, walk, and live. Why do we do that? Do we feel that if we make following God sound mystical that it will have greater meaning? Instead, I suspect that when we make it sound difficult that we find ourselves following less.
Following Jesus is actually quite simple. When He asked people to follow Him, He said simply, “Follow me.” He invites – you follow. “How do I follow?” we say. In the days of the disciples, following a Rabbi was pretty straightforward. You listened to them. You sought to understand what they taught. You copied their way of life. Not complicated. You just lived the way the Rabbi lived.
That should be our pattern as well. We listen to what Jesus has said and do it. We learn about His desires, hopes, and character. We then seek to copy His desires, His hopes, and His character in our life on a daily basis. It is amazing how He leads if we will simply be faithful in that. Don’t underestimate the power of a day. This day. Today. The book of Hebrews says that we should follow Him today. It says:
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:13, NIV
This passage warns us that sin deceives. Sin seeks to deceive us in many ways. One of those ways is to tempt us to believe that following Jesus is not just challenging, it is impossibly complicated. Sin tells us that discipleship must be for the incredibly spiritual or truly godly. We must, sin claims, must simply not be good enough (morally, intellectually, spiritually, etc.) to follow Jesus. It is a lie.
Jesus invites you to follow Him today. Don’t make it complicated. Don’t make it something only the holy or the ‘spiritual’ can do. Just follow and see what great things He will do as you follow Him daily. Listen to how He wants us to live. Copy how He lived with God and others. Just walk with Him. That alone will stretch us. We don’t need to make it complicated.
Something to think about,
Pastor John
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