In the game “follow the leader” a group of people mirror the actions of the individual that is called the “leader”. As followers of Christ we are meant to mirror the actions of Jesus. You could say being a Christian is like a large life game of “follow the leader”.
Jesus said it himself while talking to his disciples in Luke 9:23, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” He tells his disciples to not only follow him, but to admit to themselves that they need a leader every single day. Now, the question is, what is a disciple and why would anyone want to be one? According to Google, a disciple is a follower, or student to a teacher. To be a student, is to be someone who is taught by someone of higher skill, or knowledge. If you were to want to be a student to Jesus, you must first know that he is of higher skill, and knowledge than yourself.
What about Jesus makes him of higher skill, and knowledge than the rest of us? In John 8:12 Jesus says to a crowd, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the eternal light of life.” That’s a pretty compelling argument he lays on the line there. You can either follow him and walk in the light of the life and never be in the darkness again, or you can remain to be in the darkness as you decide not to follow him. It makes more sense for us to want to be in the light. Physically speaking, darkness is mysterious, unknown, and scary. But if we are in the light, we know where we are, we can see, and we are comforted by our ability to see what is around us. Jesus promises that we will be in the light. No more confusion, no more mysteries, no more fear. Just pure comfort, sight, and knowledge of knowing where we are.
Jesus uses light and dark as a metaphor for the struggles that we go through and the way to get through them, as well as a reference to Heaven and Hell. Though going through struggles in life is inevitable, we have the right to choose whether or not Jesus will help us through them. Imagine a large obstacle course inside of a warehouse in which you must work your way through from one side to the other. There are small obstacles and large ones, and it is full of danger. With the light on one is able to work their way through the obstacles with no harm. But with the light off, darkness makes it hard for someone to make it through the obstacle course in one piece or even make it out alive. Picture life as this obstacle course. We have no choice whether or not to go through it but we do have the choice to turn the light on or keep it off.
Jesus gives us these comforting words not only to bring us hope in our struggles but as a reminder that we can have a taste of Heaven on earth. What do you think about when you hear the word Heaven? Personally, I think about a bright light, peace, comfort, knowing that I will be safe there. And maybe that’s just the way that I was taught. These are the words of Jesus after all. I think I was taught right! Thank you, mom and dad. “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” If you follow him you will not only be given light, but the eternal light of life, which is almost like a saved seat for you in Heaven. The Bible talks about Heaven as being where God lives. That means we are promised to be given the best gift we could ever receive. The ability to be in the presence of God forever.
On earth, even as we go through struggles, pain, and tribulations due to our own sin we are still able have a taste of the eternal light that God promises us through Jesus. From experience, I have learned that when I obey Jesus I am continuously reminded of all of the good that I have in my life even as I go through the hardest situations. I am able to have strength for the day when I follow Christ. This is the gift of knowing what heaven will be like; light that will never be able to be overcome by the darkness. God gives us the gift of knowing what Heaven be like even as we are here on earth! How cool is that?
As you may be able to tell, I am a man who thinks. A lot! I need a certain amount of information to believe what I am being told. I am one to decipher mysteries or things not clear to me. As a child growing up I had a hard time believing in God, let alone following him! I knew the bible stories, and I had been told to obey God and follow Jesus many times. But I never truly believed in him because I didn’t have enough information to prove his existence. I would deny that I even went to church in front of my friends because I did not think the idea of God was worthy enough for such a cool guy as myself to talk about.
It wasn’t until I was in middle school that I believed in God, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit. I went to a summer camp that I was pretty much forced to go to by my parents. I went in with the attitude that I would try my best to have fun, but this God thing just isn’t for me. After I returned from that week of camp, for the first time in my life I was proud to be called a Christian. I learned the very things that I am talking about in this paper, and I had finally gotten the proof I needed to believe in a God who loves me. Though it was still difficult for me to believe in God at points, I had felt the love he has for me up close and personal. The first night at camp, God revealed himself to me in a way that words can’t even explain. I knew that God forgave for every single sin I committed. For the first time in my life I felt like I was brand new. I knew that no one could take that away from me. I am a child of God, who deserves my praise and obedience!
It was not an amount of information that I learned, but a gut feeling I had. It was almost as if God had spoken to me himself, and that was enough for me! I decided to follow him. This is when my life as a “Christian” became my life as a Christian. After that week life moved on. I grew older, experienced a heartbreak my freshman year of high school, dabbled with pornography and became an addict, my mother was diagnosed with cancer and went through chemotherapy, I went through a state of depression and self-harm, and experienced what it was like to be at rock bottom. Through this all there were times where I chose to follow Jesus, and the other eighty percent of the time I chose not to. The most import lesson I could have learned only with hands on experience was that no matter how many times I ran away from Jesus, he is always right there offering his grace, forgiveness, and strength to get me through another day.
He is the one who has led me through this crazy obstacle course called life. He is the one who has brought me out of darkness and into the light. He has restored my broken heart. He has taken away my addiction. He has healed my mom of cancer. He has lifted my spirits and showed me my worth. And most importantly, he has rescued me from my own sin. I am no longer at rock bottom and I owe that all to Jesus Christ. He has done all of this for me. I look back, and I often ask myself, “What would have happened to me if I never chose to follow him in the first place?” I would definitely not be where I am now!
Many people decide not to follow Christ because that means they can’t do whatever they want. This seems like a bad thing at first because of if we follow Jesus, we have to obey him and not our own desires for once. That is exactly where I stood, and I thought that more than a few times. But what others and myself didn’t realize is that Jesus can give us so much more than what we can get for ourselves. I’m talking about the eternal light of life! He asks us to follow him because he knows it is for our benefit. I leave you with this. Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow him. Your decision to follow Christ will never be regretted.
