John 1:43
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
Here is the essence of the Christian life. Following Jesus. Doing what you see him doing. Treating others as you see him treating people. Trying to have, as the Apostle Paul says elsewhere, the same mind and attitude as Jesus (Phil. 2).
This instinct that the Christian life is about following Jesus was captured succinctly in those rubber bracelets many evangelical Christians sported a few years back: WWJD, “What would Jesus do?” Yes, folks can over-simplify such an ethic into rather vacuous statements about love or reduce it to “evangelizing” others. And, yes, there are many situations in our twenty-first century world that Jesus never encountered or likely even imagined. I get all that. But I also get that to be a Christian is first and foremost to perceive in Jesus the in-breaking of God’s grace into the world and for this reason to try to follow him in word and deed.
When it’s not over-simplified, such a commitment is a near monumental undertaking. Not only does it take prayerful deliberation, particularly when situations are complex or vary greatly from those portrayed in the gospels, but also in terms of just what a commitment demands. Turning the other cheek, loving one’s enemies, welcoming those who are outcast? Such is not for the impatient or faint of heart.
Perhaps that’s why the first Christians weren’t called “Christians,” but were instead called “the people of the way.” They knew they were establishing a community governed by a different perception of God and a correspondingly distinct ethic. And they knew that such a life was a serious undertaking, not a spiritual sprint but a long-haul journey. In both senses, they were the people of the way.
So I’ll say it again: to be a Christian is realize that you have been called by God. Called to grace, called to life, called to more. And in response to that call to follow Jesus. Slowly, perhaps, imperfectly, for certain, but to try and follow nonetheless.
Follow. Not believe certain things about Jesus, but to follow him. Not to testify of either your faith or your obedience, but to follow him. Not to have some kind of conversion experience, but just to follow him. Theology, testimony, conversion – all of these things may come in time. But the immediate and enduring call is simply to follow. For as Jesus said to Philip so also he bids us, for his call has come down through the ages in words as challenging to obey as they are easy to understand: “Follow me.”
Prayer: Grant us the will, heart, and courage to follow Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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