Follow Me

I was just reading in John chapter one and noticed Jesus' call to Phillip.  It was the same as all the other apostles, "Follow me" (v. 43).  There was not explanation as to where they were going, how long it might take them to get there or what kind of challenges there might be along the way.  He simply called him to follow.

Why would that be?  Why not map it all out for Phillip, revealing to him the full extent of the journey before them?  Because Phllip didn't need to know all the particulars - he needed to know only one thing: he was to follow Jesus.

I have, and perhaps you have too, been unable to find a particular location (obviously before the age of GPS, so perhaps you haven't).  Not being able to find my way, having no idea where this place was or how to get there, I would call for directions and someone on the other end would say, "Just stay where you are, I come to you and you can follow me home.

In those occasions when this happened, the individual did not explain where the place was, how long it would take to get there or how many turns there might be - all the individual would say is, "Follow me."  I didn't need any more instruction than that.  They came to me, I followed them and we arrived at the destination desired.  All I had to do was keep their tailights in view.  As long as I kept my eyes on the one leading me, I didn't need to concern myself with the details.

It is precisely that way in our journey to heaven.  We do not know the way and lacking in a celestial GPS, we need Jesus to come to us so that we can follow him home.  We don't need advance directive as to how long that might take, where all the turns will be found, what kind of things we may encounter along the way - we only need to keep our eyes on Jeuss.

This is the essence of biblical study.  It is not the accumulation of spiritual data, it is opening our hearts and minds to God's revelation of Jesus' path before us.  As we see where Jesus leads us in His Word, we simply follow that path.  Navigating the journey home is not a matter of acquiring special knowledge and charting a course but one of accepting the call of Jesus and following his steps.

And, by the way, if you slip and fall or get sidetracked from the path, Jesus won't just go on without you.  He will stop and help you up or pause to call you back to the path, he will "never leave you as an ophan" (Jn 14:18).  Jus' Sayn.