Daily Devotionals

Devotional: July 21st

"FOLLOW ME"

And He saith, Come ye after Me, and I will make you fishers of men. - Matthew 4:19

"Jesus findeth Philip, and saith unto him, ’Follow Me!’" No doubt there was a great deal more passed, but no doubt what more passed was less significant and less important for the development of faith in this man than what is recorded. The word of authority, the invitation which was a demand, the demand which was an invitation, and the personal impression which He produced upon Philip’s heart, were the things that bound him to Jesus Christ for ever. "Follow Me," spoken at the beginning of the journey of Christ and His disciples back to Galilee, so might have meant merely, on the surface, "Come with us on our return." But they have, of course, a much deeper meaning. They mean, Be My disciple. Think what is implied in them, and ask yourself whether the demand that Christ makes in these words is an unreasonable one, and then ask yourself whether you have yielded to it or not. " Follow Me! " We lose the force of the image by much repetition. Think of what it implies. Sheep follow a shepherd; travellers follow a guide. Here is a man upon some dangerous cornice of the Alps, with a bit of limestone as broad as the palm of your hand for him to pick his steps upon, and perhaps a couple of feet of snow above that for him to walk upon, a precipice of two thousand feet on either side. And his guide says, as he ropes himself to him, "Now, look here! You tread where I tread?" Jesus said to Philip, "Follow Me!" Travellers follow their guides, soldiers follow their commanders. There is the hell of the battlefield; here a line of wavering, timid, raw recruits. Their commander rushes to the front, and throws himself upon the advancing enemy with the one word, " Follow! " And the weakest becomes a hero. Soldiers follow their captains.

Your Shepherd comes to you and calls, " Follow Me! " Your Captain and Commander comes to you and calls, " Follow Me! " In all the dreary wilderness, in all the difficult contingencies and conjunctions, in all the conflicts of life, this Man strides in front of us and proposes Himself to us a Guide, Example, Consoler, Friend, Companion, everything; and gathers up all duty, all blessedness, in the majestic and simple words, " Follow Me! "

What business has Jesus Christ to ask me to follow Him? Why should I? Who is He that would set Himself up as being the perfect Example and the Guide for all the world? What has He done to bind me to Him, that I should take Him for my Master, and yield myself up to Him in a subjection that I refuse to the mightiest names in literature and thought and practical benevolence? Who is this that is thus going to dominate over us all? Ah, brother! there is only one answer. " This is none other than the Son of God, who has given Himself a ransom for me, and therefore as the right, and therefore only has the right, to say to me, ’Follow Me! ’"

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