“FOLLOW ME!”

 John 1:35-43                                        (ESV)

“35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples,

36 and he looked at JESUS AS HE WALKED BY and said, "BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD!"

37 The two disciples heard him say this, and THEY FOLLOWED JESUS.

38 JESUS turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

39 HE said to them, "COME and you will SEE." So they CAME and SAW where HE was staying, and they stayed with HIM that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

40 One of the two who heard John speak and FOLLOWED JESUS was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the MESSIAH" (which means CHRIST).

42 He brought him to JESUS. JESUS looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter).

43 The next day JESUS decided to go to Galilee. HE found Philip and said to him, "FOLLOW ME."”

Sometimes I am guilty of searching so hard for an ANSWER to a problem in my life that I can’t SEE it right in front of my EYES!  There are things that we overcome with within OUR OWN ABILITIES, and then there are those things that are FAR TOO BIG to us to handle.  Always being a person who desired to make things happen, when things happened that were TOO BIG for anyone to take credit for them, I usually was forced to admit that ALMIGHTY GOD was in control!  HE was leading, and I was relegated to FOLLOWING HIM!

Playing the game “FOLLOW ME” as a child, I was always interested in doing my “own thing”!  Doing your “own thing” is not good when you are playing “FOLLOW ME”, and it is NOT GOOD when we are living for CHRIST! When JESUS instructs us to “FOLLOW ME”, HE is doing it for our good, and for the GLORY OF GOD!  Like the immature servant that I was, we can TRY to do things for JESUS in our own strength and abilities, but until we “FOLLOW ME”, walking where HE has gone before us, we are setting ourselves up for our own glory, and ultimately failure!  Romans 14:23b says “...For whatever does not proceed from FAITH is sin”!  Walking by FAITH is to “FOLLOW ME” in everything we do.  

We may have to “FOLLOW ME” through a wilderness, and we might get to “FOLLOW ME” through some good times?  But in Matthew 16:24 JESUS says “...”If anyone would come after ME, let him deny himself and take up his cross and “FOLLOW ME””!  

FATHER in HEAVEN, cause me to keep my EYES fixed on JESUS (Hebrews 12:2) and never more be guilty of setting my own agenda!  Move my steps to “FOLLOW ME”, but only when that ME is JESUS!