In the Christmas story, men from the East followed a star, some say for more than a year. They followed it until it settled over the place where Jesus was. After that, they returned home and no longer followed the star.
This Christmas, more than ever, people will have used online for shopping and many of us will receive gifts on Friday in the form of DVDs. Perhaps there is a particular musician or group that you follow and you are looking forward to receiving a CD/DVD of that musician. Most of us will have had musicians we follow for a while just like the wise men who followed the star…
Maybe it is a video game that captures all your attention. Yet again this will last only till the next video game is released. For me, it was a TV show I did not like to miss. in the 70’s and that was the Christmas Morecambe and Wise Show. Even the Queen waited to see this show. Alas, today we no longer have that privilege.
For some though they follow a sports team, they are fanatical about? This generally lasts much longer, for some a lifetime.
Whatever star we follow in our world, it stands to reason we follow what are they doing, we pay attention to their work, we care about what happens to them.
When we talk about following Jesus, is it the same thing?
Is it the same, do we pay attention, etc?
I wonder if Jesus would have been on Facebook? If so how many friends would He have had?
Yet, the difference with following Jesus is there is a return on the investment He is real in our lives He communicates with us.
Even though Jesus communicates we still have choices,
Let’s ask three questions to finish. Matthew 4:18-22
- Who had a choice to make? Peter, Andrew, James, John
- What were the options? Following Jesus or staying at their jobs.
- What choice was made? They followed Jesus and left their jobs.
Why do you think this choice was made? It’s not entirely clear.
Perhaps they were intrigued by Jesus’ comment about fishing for people. Maybe they wanted to do something more meaningful. It’s not clear whether they knew Jesus previously, but it’s likely that they did, so they might have heard His teaching already. Still, it was a gutsy move. They owned their fishing business (or would inherit it). It was a major step of faith to leave it.
Peter and his friends got themselves a purpose in life, becoming fishers of people. As Peter said later, “Who else can we go to? You have the words of eternal life.”
If Jesus truly is the Lord of life, then following him has eternal rewards and surly must be worth considering.
There are two types of followers.
- Armchair, interested, Yes but not enthusiastically and can take it or leave it.
- Passionate who follow their heroes & teams. Don’t mind spending their money or time.
The question is which of the above describes us about Jesus?
Is He a star you follow daily, not just for Christmas?