As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. Matthew 9:9
What I love about these words in red is that Jesus only said two words to Matthew and he followed. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never dived into anything from two words. I mean Stephen didn’t walk up to me and say,”marry me” and it was a done deal.
While that example might sound absurd when you consider what a commitment marriage is, the commitment these disciples made to follow Jesus was very costly. In Matthew chapter 8 we see two men who wanted to follow Jesus, but had other obligations they would rather fulfil first. They wanted to serve Jesus on their own time and convenience. And so do many of us.
Our excuses for not following Jesus can be justified in our own minds and wills. Matthew knew in a moment that Jesus’ love was worth forsaking all else instantly. His yes to Jesus would prove to cost him everything on this side, but gained him an earthly discipleship and eternity with Jesus.
I want to rise up like Matthew and seek Him. I want to respond when Jesus says,”Bailey, follow me”. I don’t want to be torn with what I’m currently doing to ignore Him when He asks me to follow. Truth is that Jesus has already asked me to follow Him, to choose Him. Those are some other words in red ;) Today I want to focus on what it would look like to follow Him. To follow Him on a daily basis. To not wake up everyday assuming that what He said yesterday applies to today. To not presume that the way I found His presence before is how I’ll find Him again. I want to be flexible to lay down all of my agendas to follow Him. I want a heart of love that obeys.
Matthew traded in what anyone can do and gained what very very few got to do in following the Son of God during His earthly ministry. I believe his rising to the occasion to follow Jesus was worth it.
What are you following?
“We will be lay down lovers…we want to go where nobody has gone before. We want to do what nobody’s done before…”