Follow Me

Two great moments in our lives are when we are born and when we discover why we were born.

I know we were created for a reason—a divine purpose. Our lives are not accidents or fate. God has a personal plan for each of us. His purpose in our lives can only be accomplished because of Jesus Christ.

So I believe life really has only two roads, and we are on one of them.

One leads to death and eternal punishment—the other to everlasting life.

The single most important directive in the Gospels is the Savior's "follow me."

It occurs in all four Gospels by the Evangelists.

·         "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24).

·         "As He was passing along, He saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting in the tax collector's place and He said to him, 'Follow me"' (Mark 2:14).

·         "'One thing is still lacking to you. Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.' When he heard these things he was much grieved, for he was very rich" (Luke 18:22-23).

·         "You do not believe because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me" (John 10:27).

As we read these great masters of the spiritual life they keep insisting on the necessity of following in the footsteps of the Divine Master.  As Christians, I think we accept this principle of Christian sanctity.

But then we look around us at the world of noise and frenzied activity, of blaring voices in the media clamoring for attention, and millions of daily words poured out in print demanding to be read. We see the streets of our cities crowded with people and moving vehicles. We look at the sky and see planes traveling at speeds that were not even dreamed of at the beginning of this century. We find ourselves surrounded by human beings, like ourselves, who are pre-occupied with money and pleasure and "having a good time," and then we wonder.  Or do we even?

Our faith is tried to its roots as we compare the quiet words of the Savior, "Follow Me," with the allegedly real world in which we live.

How, we ask, can a believer in Christ be His devoted follower in an age that is so immersed in space and time as to seem oblivious of heaven and eternity and everything that Jesus stands for?

Pursuit of Holiness.