Follow Me...

  Back when I was in high school…or maybe it was early college… I had this pastor who use to say that “If you’re not seeking God for yourself then you will never be able to lead anyone to Him, you will only be able to point them in the right direction”.  I haven’t thought about that in years.  Then this morning, a few of us (aka, my boss, his wife and one of our teammates) went to check out a church here in Cuenca and the pastor’s whole message was about not just pointing people to Christ, but actually coming alongside them and leading them to Him.  Just like that, it all came flooding back to me.

  The Apostle Paul implores the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11, to “Follow me as I follow Christ”, which is exactly what the pastor was saying this morning.  Just because someone comes to the realization that they need a relationship with Jesus Christ, doesn’t mean they actually know how to have one.  Without a fellow brother or sister coming alongside them, walking with them and showing them the way, so often people will just give up and assume this “religion thing” just didn’t work for them.  How sad….

  And I must admit, in my own life, there have been times where I have done a lot of pointing and not so much leading.  I think it’s sometimes hard to stand with the Apostle Paul in saying to people, “Follow me as I follow Christ”, because we know how much we fail, how often we stumble, how much we just don’t understand.  But like the pastor pointed out this morning, it’s not about perfection, it’s about forward progress.  Check out what Paul says in Philippians 3…

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection.  BUT I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.  No dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing.  Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God through Christ Jesus is calling us… Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine and learn from those who follow our example.”

  Never once in that passage does the apostle Paul say, “Clean yourself up.  Get your act together.  Be perfect.  And THEN you’re fit for others to follow you”.  Paul knows what we all know, that none of us will be perfected until we reach the gates of heaven…and if we wait until then to reach out to others, it’s too late.  Once again, perfection isn’t required….A heart seeking fully after God is!  If you are seeking hard after God, there is no better person for others to follow in order to meet Christ for themselves. 

  It’s like a chain reaction… Paul is saying follow me as I follow Christ…. So we follow Paul to Christ all the while calling others to follow us… then others follow our example to the throne of God, calling even more to follow them to Christ.  Is that not how the whole world will be reached and the great commission completed?!?!  So let us give our all to God, seek Him with everything we are, and show the world the way to Christ!  Amen.