Anabaptists (re-baptizers) were religious reformers who encouraged Christians to wholeheartedly embrace the Bible. They enjoyed using the word “follow” more often than “believe”. This was because Christians at the time failed to apply the word “believe” to their religious life due to its abstractness. So, anabaptists favored the word “follow” as it came to their mind as something actionable that can be exercised in obedience to God’s word. Even today, Richard Foster (Christian theologian) recognizes that the crisis of modern day’s religious life is caused by this “abstractness”. It appears that modern day Christians are also in dire need of this actionable verb “follow”.
“Come, follow me.” These were the first words Jesus had spoken when calling out His disciples. “Come, follow me . . .” Through this calling, He is picturing what His disciples’ life would be like if they follow Him. The life of discipleship is about walking with Jesus everyday so that you will know His will and heart, work with Him, and ultimately become one Him. You may not know what can result from this, but it is not important as long as you are “walking together with Jesus”. In this journey with Jesus, your reward is knowing Him more each day and becoming united with Him. If you are unsure if you have answered His calling, ask yourself if you are getting to know Jesus’s heart deeper each day, and if you are walking with Him in your daily life. If you can answer yes, His calling is already being completed in you.
The target of Matthew 4:19 was not just for the disciples at the time. Jesus is also telling the same message to Chrisitans today. You may be wondering, how can we follow Him if we cannot see with our own eyes ? We can learn this from the disciples who lived 2000 years ago. Although they only saw Jesus in-person for 3 years, they followed Him all their life as though they could physically see Him every day. They did this in two ways: obeying to the words of Jesus and praying to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance. These two things are the essence of discipleship.
Back then, Jesus involved Himself into the daily life of disciples and said “Come, follow me”. Even today, we too can involve Jesus in our life by first thinking about what Jesus would do and then obeying His will one step at a time. Through this we become His disciples. For this reason, we need to meditate on the words of the Bible and pray, seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is the very concrete and clear calling of Jesus to His disciples (us).
If you think spiritual life is only an idea not within your grasp, you are missing this very concrete, and clear calling of Jesus. As a church, we will be more diligent in this fundamental ministry by mediating on the words of the Bible, applying it to our daily lives, and knowing the Lord's guidance via prayer. I pray that you will be more faithful in following this practice and reflect on it as your plan for the new year.
Following the shepherd…
Pastor Jiwon Choi