Followers

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

I love this passage. It's all about calling and hearing and following after that which Jesus calls us to do. Following is easy; we all follow something or somebody. That’s the way we're made. I remember early in my life following the wrong person and doing wrong stuff. It's easy to be a follower. In fact, life lived to its fullest is about following the right person and going in the right direction. NEWS FLASH! Not to be a follower is to choose to live life on your own.

That’s right. The person who does not follow is headed into self, going where they want and doing what they decide. On the surface this sounds like a great plan. All of us want to be unique and special individuals; we like doing our own thing. It's about self-discovery and self-fulfillment, but the problem is this--following self ends in destruction. In fact, the cause of the fall of humanity was the quest of self over God.

So again, what's wrong with self-discovery? It's wrong because, unless we become followers of Christ, we have no part in Christ. Being a Christ follower is everything about being a follower. It is about following the Savior and discovering fulfillment in service and sacrifice to the one who gave Himself for us as a ransom for us all.

That's why Jesus said that His followers, His sheep, know His voice; they can hear Him and they can follow because they understand that only Jesus has the way that leads to life. A key ingredient to this is relationship. Notice that Jesus says that they (we) know Him and that He knows us. If Jesus knows us, that means He has our life in His hand and we can follow Him in full confidence that He is leading in the right direction.

Who is leading your life today?