Weekly Devotional: Following Jesus

Matthew 4:19-22

“And immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.” (Matthew 4:22)

Inspiration for this week’s devotional comes from a song from the Center for Worship Arts’ newly released EP, Canyon Worship. Download now from the iTunes Store.

Following Jesus. As a Christian culture, we throw this term around a lot. We say that we follow Jesus. But what does that really mean?

Throughout the Gospel, there are many stories of Jesus and people following Him wherever He went. When He traveled from city to city during His three years of ministry, not only did His disciples follow Him, but also crowds of people. The disciples followed Jesus the closest. They were His inner circle and give us a beautiful glimpse of what it looks like to surrender our lives to follow Him.

We get to see an inside look of how broken people follow Jesus. When we follow Him, we understand His perfection and our brokenness. However, the disciples were also broken people. They were people who asked questions about what Jesus was doing for no other reason than to get closer to God’s heart.

Matthew 4:22 highlights when Jesus called two of His disciples: “They left… and followed Him.” Not only did they leave their physical possessions and their emotional ties with their family, but they also left their comfort. They left their livelihoods. It was all worth giving up for the cause of Christ.

Sometimes when we say that we follow Christ, it comes with loopholes, ifs, ands or buts. We try to finagle our way into keeping our comfort and what we want out of life, but we also want to give it all to Christ.

But that’s not what we are called to do. Through the shadows, the highs and lows of life, we are called to follow Jesus no matter what. Just like the disciples, we can leave behind our comfort in the things of this world because the beauty and glory of Christ is more important than any of it.