Following Jesus

"And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And He said unto them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:18-19
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We can follow people in a lot of ways. We can follow them with our eyes; watching where they go and what they do. We can follow them with our legs; walking behind them or with them wherever they may go. Or we can follow them with our actions; taking their lead and emulating what they do.

Certainly when Jesus was here on earth, he had "followers" that fit all three categories; more in the first two than in the latter. There were some who who watched what He did when He came through during His earthly ministry. There were those who traveled to Him or behind Him to see what miracle He would perform or what truth He would share. Some times those crowds numbered in the thousands, but they included those who were waiting for a chance to criticize Him too. Then there were those few who were willing to give up their lives and their hearts to do what He did.

Jesus in calling His disciples said "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." He didn't say follow me and I will show you, or follow me and I will take you, but He said follow me and I will make you! For those few who were willing to truly follow Him, 12 at first, Jesus didn't just change their view or just change their location. He changed their lives to be more like His.

How are you following the Lord now? Are you just watching what He is doing in the lives of others? Are you just following Him to church to see what He might say or do? Or are you following Him with your life, allowing Him to change you into a disciple who goes out and makes other disciples?

Let's not just follow Jesus with our eyes to see what He's doing or follow Him with our legs to be where He's doing it. Let's follow Him with our hearts to BE what He is doing.

God at Work!

Here's a question for you who are prepping to go to work, heading to work, or already at work (by the way, should you be on FB @ work?)...anyway...the question is, when you show up to your job, is God at work?  Is God in you, and do you allow Him to show up with you and through you at work? See often times as Christians we think that God's command to share the Good News and to make disciples only applies to some foreign mission field, at your church, or at least anywhere but work. But I say that your office, your plant, your site, your workplace is just as much your mission field as anywhere else God can send you; perhaps even greater. Being a believer, carrying a bible, listening to preaching, and participating in worship are not required tasks at your job as they may be at your church or some evangelistic rally. Therefore, you have access to people at your job who don't know the Lord and frankly never even thought to seek Him. And guess what....Jesus died for them too...especially for them.

"But I can't talk about Jesus at my job; I'll get fired", you say. That may be true. My first response to that is, SO WHAT! Jesus bore the cross. Is it too much to ask us to bear a pink slip? But, ok so maybe you haven't worked yourself up to that kind of boldness..yet. Let me offer that there is yet another way that you can allow God to show up through you at your work, and its by the way you work.  Let me ask you this? How do you treat people at work? Are you kind, helpful, and show them love? How do you treat your boss at work? Do you submit to him or her; do you seek to serve God by serving your boss? How do you treat your work at work? Do you work hard, giving it all you've got; do you give your best and use the gifts and abilities God has given you to perform your tasks? Ooorrrr, do you treat the people you serve like an inconvenience of your time; do you talk about your coworkers more than you pray for them; does your boss have to search for you and constantly check up on you to make sure you're doing your job; do you dodge work, doing just enough where there's not quite enough evidence to fire your tail?

Colossians 3:23 says "Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people". So, if you are a Christian, God is your real boss and He is worthy of your best work. And if you are going to be a Christian, you are one everywhere you go, including work. So make sure when you show up to work today, you allow God to show up with you.