Pastor Eddy Writes… : Are You a Follower of Christ?

Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? What does it really mean? Nowadays the word “Follower” has a different connotation. It all depends on whom you are following.

Since the development of Twitter, we hear the word “follower” quite a bit. If you send out tweets and people read your tweets, they are called “followers”. There are many people who follow every tweet of certain famous individuals or celebrities. It has become something of a status symbol: the more people who follow your tweets, the more famous or influential you are thought to be.

If you are on Facebook, you don’t have “followers;” but you have “friends.” And nowadays the word “friends” also have different kinds of meaning.

The reason why I bring this up is because I think Jesus Christ has a lot of so-called “friends,” but I wonder how many real followers He actually has.

Throughout history and even from the studying of the Scripture, we know there are people who have admired Jesus Christ, viewing Him as a great teacher or heroic figure. There were casual listeners; there were convinced listeners who bought in what He said but they didn’t want to follow Him and of course, there were the committed listeners who listened and followed Him.

Jesus never said, “Admire Me. Enjoy listening to Me.” He said, “Follow Me.” Jesus distinguishes between real followers and those who are only admirers:

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.” (Matthew 7:24-25, NLT)

A follower is one who builds his house on the rock; it is the person who hears God’s Word and does it. Are you a follower of Jesus Christ?