Following the Father

In Matthew 16:24, Jesus states, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me”.

Jesus knew His death on the cross was approaching to fulfill God’s promises to His people. Jesus needed His disciples to choose to follow Him, trust Him, and tell others of the good news just as He wants us to do today.

Matthew 16 wasn’t the first time Jesus had used these instructions regarding picking up the cross and following Him. Previous mention of the cross occurs in Matthew 10:38, when Jesus painted a picture of death on a cross to show that he needed the physical commitment of His followers throughout their lives even to the point of death just as He was doing for them.

Throughout scripture we see how Jesus continually instructs us to follow Him.

As a follower of Christ, there are many areas in which I continually fall short. Letting the Lord guide my life, trusting His will, and witnessing to others about His goodness are just a few of my weaknesses.

I was led to salvation as a child and have had a relationship with Christ since that moment. I have read what scripture tells me about these shortcomings in my life and have heard countless sermons encouraging my obedience to the truth. I fully believe every word and God has given clear instructions on how to grow closer to Him throughout scripture. Despite these things, I still find myself falling short day after day.

Romans 3:23, “For we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

Whether it is letting the Lord guide our life, trusting His will, or evangelizing, Jesus commands us with one of His most used phrases in the gospels, “Follow me”.

With Jesus and God being one, when we choose to follow Jesus we are also following the will of God.

Now you might be thinking, “Ok I can’t physically follow His foot-steps if He is in Heaven and I am on Earth”, or “How can I even begin to start following Him or trusting him?”.

Sometimes these thoughts creep into my mind, however, as I was hunting one day with my dad I realized how easy it is to truly Follow the Father.

Before I explain this realization, I must start by saying that there are three important aspects of following God:

• Letting the Lord guide your life.
• Trusting His will.
• Acting in obedience and sharing with others how to follow the Lord.

For most people who live in the South hunting is a favorite pasttime, especially deer hunting. While I don’t consider myself a hunting enthusiast, I still enjoy going with my dad and spending quality time with him.

To preface, dad and I hunt out of a deer stand he built on my grandad’s property. In order to get to the stand, we have to walk in the dark woods before the sun comes up. My dad uses his flashlight and I follow right behind trying to catch up with him. Without following the light of my dad’s flashlight, I would never make it to the stand.

As we walk through the woods, there are leaves scattered all across our paths that we have to avoid. Following close behind, I always attempt to step on my dad’s footprints to avoid making extra noise.

During this short walk to the stand, the only things on my mind are staying close to my dad and following in his footsteps.

Once we are in the stand my dad sets everything up. It’s as if I am on autopilot because I trust everything my dad is doing and I know he has everything prepared and safely set up.

Like I said, I don’t hunt much, but when I do kill something I immediately want to tell everyone I know. My dad will take a picture of me with the deer (strategically making it look bigger than it is) and I always want to tell my mom and family the *dramatic* story of how this poor deer died.

At the end of the hunt though, it’s not about if I killed a deer or not, it’s about the quality time I spent with my dad. What I have learned from hunting with my dad is that he knows the answer to every question I have and he leads me, keeps me safe, and I don’t deserve to have a dad as good as him.

Now how does hunting with my dad tie in to Following the true Father?

As Christians we often overcomplicate things.

We think we need to clean ourselves up before we reach out to the Lord. We need to stop committing that one sin that keeps creeping up on us. We need to lay out a plan on how to do what He wants for us. The list goes on and on.

However, Following the Father can truly be as simple as a hunt with my dad.

I didn’t have to learn to be the best deer hunter before going with my dad. I went exactly as I was without skill or complete knowledge.

This is what following God is like. It’s stepping out of your comfort zone and not putting your confidence in your own skill or knowledge but letting God serve as your guide in all things.

1. Letting the Lord guide your life

Romans 13:1, “… For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God”.

The first step is letting the Lord be the ultimate leader of your life. We must step back and assess our hearts and realize we are not in control and He is of utmost supremacy. Just as I followed behind my dad and his flashlight, we must walk in accordance with the Lord. His word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Letting God be our guide calls for a life on a narrow path that is Kingdom focused just as the path following dad leads straight to the stand. Obeying the Word leads us to stay on the path to Heaven and avoid sin just as following my dad leads to avoid the noise of the leaves crunching under foot. However, if we stray from the path, we follow a God that is forgiving and lets us join Him on the path once again.

2. Trust in the Lord

Psalms 16:11, “You will make known to me the path of life; In your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever”.

Trusting means you fully believe in the truth, reliability, and strength of something or someone. When I go hunting with my dad I have full trust in everything He instructs me. My dad shows me how to set up the gun and instructs me on anything I need to know such as laws on what I can and can’t shoot. Never once do I question anything my dad teaches me. So why would I ever question anything the Lord is doing? The Lord’s promises are continually fulfilled throughout scripture and we must have full trust that He is still working in our lives today. Trusting in God is turning things over in His hands. It’s a heart posture giving to Him the things that trouble us. It’s fully leaning on Him through the good and bad.

3. Act in obedience and share the gospel with others

Mark 16:15, “And He said to them ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”.

Telling my family hunting stories does not compare to the joy of telling others about God’s saving grace. The difference between hunting stories and the gospel is that hunting stories are temporary and the gospel is eternal, life-changing news that can lead people to Heaven. Following the Lord means carrying his joy with you to spread with others. In order to spread the gospel to others, we must be prepared with scripture in our hearts to spread to others.

So today are you going to choose to follow the Lord?

Are you going to let Him be your light?

Are you going to follow His footsteps?

Are you going to spend quality time with Him?

Are you going to put your full trust in Him?

Are you going to prepare your heart to spread the gospel?

Are you going to share the joy of the Lord with others?