“Then a scribe came and said to Him, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever You go.’ ” Matthew 18:19
It sounds exciting when we hear someone say they’ll follow Jesus anywhere. It would be exciting to believe we could follow Jesus anywhere He went. That sounds like real commitment. Real devotion.
But when we read Jesus’ response to the scribe, we understand something. Jesus told the scribe, and He tells us, “You better think about what it takes to follow me. Even foxes and birds have homes. Places to call home. A place where they belong. But I don’t even have a place to sleep.”
We can get excited about following Jesus. We can revel in those mountain top experiences after a seminar or a great sermon or a concert. And we can get convicted real quickly. We can say to ourselves and tell others that we’re going to follow Jesus wherever He goes.
But would we?
We can sound bold for Christ, but boldness without the basis for understanding what it means to follow him can fade as quickly as it appeared.
It’s easy to get excited about becoming an overnight authentic follower of Christ. But eventually, the next day, or the next week, something comes up that makes us waver. Confession without commitment can impact our thinking and diminish our effectiveness.
When we really stop to think about the commitment Jesus made to His disciples and to us, we realize something. It is too easy to miscalculate the cost of a deliberate pursuit of Jesus. to become an authentic disciple and literally “follow Jesus” anywhere He tells you to go.
Many times, when an excuse arises we use it. And we realize our intentions were much greater than our commitment.
PRAYER: O God, we want to follow you. We want to be obedient. We want to spread Your gospel by the way we live and the commitments we make. We realize, Father, that often times we make commitments, then fail to follow through when the distractions and interruptions of the world get in our way. Dear God, help us to understand the real cost of following You. Show us the way, O Lord, to become authentic followers of Christ. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.