FOLLOW THOU ME |
"[...] follow thou me." (John 21:22) The call of the Lord Jesus to follow Him is a call to set our hearts and minds upon Him and walk with Him for all of our days. The moment of our conversion is a beginning, the commencement of a life-long journey of communion with the living God. When we first respond to His call, He brings us to life from the dead, translates us into His kingdom and makes us partakers of His divine nature. But we quickly discover that He is the only one who can sustain us on our journey, only He can provide nourishment to our new life, only He can empower us to stay the course, it is only by abiding in Him that we are conformed to His character, and this journey can only take place as we listen to His voice and submit to His will. As we learn to walk with and follow the Lord Jesus, He asks us to commit to Him every step that we take. We are not to look back, longing for the things of this world, living for those things which we sought after before we heard His call. "What is that to thee?", Jesus asks. "Follow thou me", He commands. When we make the Lord Jesus the focus of our hearts and put aside everything that hinders us from following Him wholeheartedly, we will no longer be deceived or discouraged in our hearts or blinded by the urgency or strain of life's circumstances. Rather, we have been translated -- our eyes are firmly fixed upon Jesus and the prize that has been set before us. The call of the Lord Jesus is a call into His presence, a call to "know Him". There is no real life and no lasting joy apart from Him. Let us set our hearts and minds upon following the Lord Jesus in all that we do. As we learn to obey His voice and abide in His will, life's challenges and difficult circumstances will seem as though they have been transfigured by the joy of His presence. Let us learn from the Psalmist - "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Psalm 16:11) |