Following Jesus
“The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’”
John 1:43
It’s one of the simplest calls in Scripture, yet one of the hardest to live out: “Follow me.”
In our culture, it’s easy to treat faith like a part-time pursuit, a set of beliefs we add into our lives while keeping control of the steering wheel. But the call of Jesus is not an invitation to walk beside Him as equals. It is a summons to follow Him as Lord.
This is a crucial bit of theology that Christians can forget. If Jesus is Lord, then He gets to tell us what to do, when to do it, and why. We surrender control of our lives, our plans, our ambitions and our comfort, to Him and His will. Following Him is not about adding His opinion to ours; it’s about letting His Word and His ways set the direction entirely.
When Jesus called Philip, He didn’t hand him a map or explain every detail. He simply said, “Follow me.” And that’s still how He calls us today. We may not always understand the route. We may not get every answer to our “why” questions. But we trust the One we’re following.
And following Him is more than just agreeing with His teachings. It means doing what He does, saying what He says, and living the way He lived. It’s watching how He treated people, how He prayed, how He forgave, how He obeyed the Father, and letting that shape our own actions and words.
This kind of discipleship costs us something. It costs us our independence, our right to self-rule, our insistence on being in charge. But what we gain is far greater: the peace of walking in His will, the joy of His presence, and the assurance that we are right where we’re supposed to be.
Today, remember who is leading. Jesus is not just the Savior. He is the Lord. And the only right response to His voice is to follow.
John 1:43
It’s one of the simplest calls in Scripture, yet one of the hardest to live out: “Follow me.”
In our culture, it’s easy to treat faith like a part-time pursuit, a set of beliefs we add into our lives while keeping control of the steering wheel. But the call of Jesus is not an invitation to walk beside Him as equals. It is a summons to follow Him as Lord.
This is a crucial bit of theology that Christians can forget. If Jesus is Lord, then He gets to tell us what to do, when to do it, and why. We surrender control of our lives, our plans, our ambitions and our comfort, to Him and His will. Following Him is not about adding His opinion to ours; it’s about letting His Word and His ways set the direction entirely.
When Jesus called Philip, He didn’t hand him a map or explain every detail. He simply said, “Follow me.” And that’s still how He calls us today. We may not always understand the route. We may not get every answer to our “why” questions. But we trust the One we’re following.
And following Him is more than just agreeing with His teachings. It means doing what He does, saying what He says, and living the way He lived. It’s watching how He treated people, how He prayed, how He forgave, how He obeyed the Father, and letting that shape our own actions and words.
This kind of discipleship costs us something. It costs us our independence, our right to self-rule, our insistence on being in charge. But what we gain is far greater: the peace of walking in His will, the joy of His presence, and the assurance that we are right where we’re supposed to be.
Today, remember who is leading. Jesus is not just the Savior. He is the Lord. And the only right response to His voice is to follow.
Posted in The Word Made Flesh
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