Follow Me

So often I hear about "following Jesus" with finger-wagging and tongue-lashings about how we don't follow Him well enough, and how we have to try harder to follow Him, and Jesus commanded that we follow Him and so we just better start doing it.

Today Pastor was trying to explain that this is a "command of the gospel" and not a command of law. Now, I don't know about you, but I hear people all the time trying to tell me what I better do, whilst they deny that they're speaking Law, and insist that their demands are actually Gospel.

So today Pastor uses an example from a movie. He said it would be like the President in Air Force One or like Jean-Luc Picard in a Star Trek episode. You're in a horrible situation, the enemy is attacking, and you're all in need of rescue. Along comes the hero, grabs you by the hand, and says "Follow me." And you follow. You don't decide to follow. You don't "do something" in your following. You are simply compelled to be pulled along by the guy who's forging the way out of the mess and bringing you along with him.

Now, with that kind of explanation, even I can understand what he means by "a command of the gospel" and how it's really not a demand, but an invitation that not only invites but also gives us the ability to receive the invitation.