WHO DO YOU DESIRE TO FOLLOW?
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June 1999
Through the centuries people have aspired to follow great men; that would lead them in a glorious path. Jesus was a great man and is the way. Have you given thought of who you follow? Man or Christ?
Throughout most of our lives we have sought to follow someone. People can get caught up in the world and desire to follow man and forget about God. Remember the Gate Keepers, they followed after a man who promised to them the way to glory. In the end they ended up committing suicide by ingesting poison. Proverbs 14:12 tells us this: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
WHO DO YOU CHOOSE TO FOLLOW?
I believe God has given us a will to choose Him, those He has called according to His purpose. Often times we get caught up with the shiny offerings man will hold out to tempt people and get them on the wrong track. Causing people to become concerned with the things of man. In John 21:21 Peter asks Jesus, "What of this man?" [referring to John]. Verse 22 goes on to say; "Jesus saith unto him [Peter], If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." Jesus tells Peter straight out not to worry about him [John], you follow me and not him! So many get sidetracked and fall by the wayside.
I remember a song called "HOLE TO WHOLE" sung by a Christian group. The song is about a young man who falls into the hole of life. The first person to come along is Buddha. Now Buddha only offers advice and can offer the young man some direction out of the hole.
You can see in your mind that young man become discouraged because he's still stuck in the hole of life. Next to come along is Muhammad, who also only offers direction. He only tells the young man how to get out of the hole from a distance.
Then comes Jesus Christ. He not only tells the young man He can help him, He jumps into the hole of life and tells the young man to put his foot in the palm of His hand and He'll lift the young man to the promised land. Jesus tells the young man that He is the way, not I'll show you the way. The young man finds that peace, love, fellowship, and most of all that everlasting life that he has been searching for.
Many claim to follow Jesus, but seem to take a detour along the way. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 says to us: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." Here Paul is warning the Body of Christ that men will seek to follow man, which in essence is loving themselves instead of loving God. They choose not to follow the Lord. Hence veering away from sound doctrine that produces a solid foundation of Holy and righteous living; but they step into sinful living. Jeremiah 17:5 tells us this: "Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." Some great men have tried to lead people to victory but they always lose in the end and the people get hurt. Foe example, Hitler, Napoleon, and Saddam Hussein, to name a few. This was because they trusted in themselves and not in God and they didn't receive victory. Psalm 146:3 informs us: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help." Man, of himself, can really offer no other man anything outside of himself; for man cannot offer salvation or eternal security.
I have seen groups come up where they follow a person to be great that they will show the way. John 14:6 tells us that: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Let's take a look at John 10:9 where Jesus tell us that, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." When we follow Jesus we are and will be saved by our Lord. Moving onto verse 27 we find: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." People who follow Christ delight in His voice. Those who choose to be deaf to His voice have no delight in His voice and have no delight in the Good Shepherd. These are those people who have chosen to follow man. The ones who delight in the Good Shepherd, they follow Christ, who in turn is the Good Shepherd. Jeremiah 17:7 tells us the following: "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is." Blessed meaning, well off, fortunate, and happy.
(c) 1999 by Pastor Aaron D. Lint
