Day 26: I Will Follow You

Read Luke 8-9

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” (Luke 9:57)

• What does it mean to truly follow Christ? Well we must have the desire to accept the life He offers. We must be determined to accept who He is and know that He is the source of our wisdom and knowledge. Nowadays if someone were to come up to us and say “I am ready to follow Jesus!,” we would say, “Oh how awesome! We have a bible study at our church this Friday, you should totally come out!” or at least something along those lines, right? But here in this passage, we see Christ doing something completely different. When the three men tell Jesus they want to follow Him, he kind of just smacks them on the nose.
• To the first man, He says “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). Jesus is telling the man to slow down and that he is going too fast. He says He is not the type of Messiah who wins the world by simply winning an election or winning a battle. He says He wins the world by being arrested and being condemned. He reassures the man that he would be living in a lower standard than everyone else by following him. As Christians, would we be ready to face those hardships? 
• The second man is slowly coming to Christ. "Jesus says, 'Follow me.'" But he said, “Lord let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Luke 9:59). He’s certainly not talking about the physically dead. He’s talking about the spiritually dead (A person who is blind and deaf to a spiritual environment). 
• “Yet another said, I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” The third man that wants to follow Christ but is also coming slowly. “Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:61-62). Christ uses a powerful metaphor here. When you are using a plow in the soil, you have to make sure there aren't any rocks because it could break the plow. You are laser focused on that plow. Christ says to be laser focused on him and nothing else. Follow him and no one else. He must come first. 
• What’s significant about these two men is that they are both willing to follow Christ. Their responses were “Yes, Lord,” “You, Lord,” “I will follow you, Lord,” but they have that “But wait, Lord. My family first.” He’s not saying that you shouldn't honor your father and mother. He’s not saying to not obey the commandments. What Jesus is expressing through is that you must make Him first. You must believe that what He thinks is better than what the world we live in believes. 
• Now if he were to talk to us youths in Dallas he’d probably say: 
• Following me is more important than making a lot of money.
• Following me is more important than getting that perfect girl or guy. 
• Following me is more important than trying to please your friends or trying to fit in. 
• Following him is more important! 
• As children of God, we say, “We want to follow you, God.” But we have a hard time putting Him first. We have Him in our lives as a supplement. We want Him in our lives to add more. “I’ll obey you, if…” or “I’ll obey you, as long as…” Christ says whatever is on the other side to those "if’s", "but’s" and "as long as", is your real master. He says that can’t be. Friends, we all do this. We are blind and deaf to the spiritual reality. We must be willing to give up ourselves to Christ so that he can remove all those dead scales and make us new.

The songs “Broken Vessels” and “Lord I Need You” hit me while I was doing this devotional.

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost
But now I'm found
Was blind but now I see

Oh I can see it now
Oh I can see the love in Your eyes
Laying yourself down
Raising up the broken to life

Lord, I need You, oh I need You
Every hour I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You

So to follow Christ, we must spend time with Him, observe Him, let Him instruct and correct us and we must seek Him to model ourselves after Him.

-Angela Abraham