Here is the logo for our church. The first one in the upper left is our goal as a church to be followers of Jesus Christ. This is simple, but we make it so complex.
This is always masqueraded as actually following yourself. You are your own god and you make the decisions based on you, your feelings, and how you perceive this will be best for you. You "lean to your own understanding...."
Some are following religious traditions and they argue the decision is already made for them and thus, without knowing it, are willingly not accepting responsibility for their own decisions. They decide to do something or not do something because their religious tradition says to do it that way. This is how I was taught. This is what my church believes. This is what my pastor preaches.
But to follow Jesus is not to follow any of these other ways. Over 20 times in the Gospels, Jesus invites persons to simply "Follow Me." This is about following a person...imitating him with not only the decisions you make but even the way he walks and talks.
This was the pattern of rabbis and their students during the days of Jesus in Jewish life. The student (disciple) was to follow so closely behind the teacher (rabbi) that it was said they had his "dust on their sandals."
We are called to follow Jesus, plain and simple, first and foremost. Not a denomination. Not a culture of religious tradition. But to follow Jesus.
To say we have this as a sole commitment as a church would be prideful and foolish. I only wish I followed Jesus more closely and fully, let alone our church. But if you don't have a goal, then you will never know what you are aiming for. And I can say this is a major goal to implement ways for persons at Rainsville First Family to be followers of Jesus.
In the next few weeks, I will use this Wednesday blog to take a deep dive into our understanding of discipleship. Join us...
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