So recently Eli has been starting to put short sentences together. “I help, Me do, I get it, and still of course the famous NOOOOO, Daddy.” Probably one of his favorite new statements has to be, “I Follow.” Everywhere I go, “I follow” If I am going downstairs to do the laundry, “I follow.” If I am going outside to take out the trash, “Me follow.” Even if I am going into the bathroom and really don’t want a follower, I will get a knock on the door, “Daddy, I follow.” Most the time it is awesome, my lil man just wants to be there, but there are sometimes where I find myself tripping and falling over him.
Right now he is taking a nap, so I am finally getting a breather, because from the moment Eli is awake to the time he goes to bed he is literally nonstop. He doesn’t really watch TV except for the movie Cars, but even with that it is usually 10 minutes then up and running again. He is just nonstop on the go, following us around.
As I have a moment to sit and think about it though, I believe him following without questions is exactly what we as believers are truly to be doing with Jesus, following Him. Think about it in the aspect that Jesus tells us to have “faith like a child.” Maybe this is exactly what he means. “Just Follow Me.” We now question everything. “Jesus, why this? Jesus, why that?” Question after question. Now I know that one day Eli will start to question everything. For now though,I will take him just following me as the example to how we should be as disciples.
Mark 10:14-15, “Don’t push these children away. Don’t ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the Kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.” (The Message)
Did you know that the word disciple literally translates, “follower?” If I had to ask you right now if you were following after Jesus, how would you respond? Because in today’s culture we have completely flipped the equation to be, “Jesus, follow me.” Instead of us following, we are now making the commands and telling Him how we think we should live. The problem is, that is not what the Bible teaches. It doesn’t teach Him following us, it teaches us following Him.
Why this is so key and I get so passionate about it, (by the way I am yelling through the screen right now) is that in telling Jesus to follow us we are telling Him we know better than he does. It’s like me saying to Him, “Jesus I know what your word says, but I have 34 years experience now in this thing called life and I really think you should do it my way, your way is kinda old fashioned.” At that moment, I can imagine him looking at me and just saying sarcastically, “You’re right Josh, your 34 years experience are so much more than well lets see, My all-eternity experience in creation.” Yeah maybe I don’t know as much as I thought.
So next time you have a decision to make or a choice that you are confused about, maybe it is time to become like Eli, and just say to God, “I Follow.” How much simpler would the Christian life be if we just learned to follow after Him. We have over complicated it so badly, Jesus gave us the example, now it is time for us to follow. Will you follow today?