Follow the Leader

Many of us would agree that there are certain ways to do certain things. For, example: Fredericton’s Traffic Circle. 

Its a two lane traffic circle, and it seems that all the rules of the road are abandoned when people come to this traffic circle. But, there is a right way and a wrong way to drive in this city, and if you want to survive and not die in the traffic circle, you will follow the rules and wait your turn. 

There is a certain way to bake a cake. If you leave one ingredient out, or include too much of an ingredient, then the cake will not taste as it should. 

The same with following Jesus. 

Sort of. 

You see, my journey with Jesus will look completely different than your journey with Jesus. What is wrong for me, might not be wrong for you, and vice versa. Jesus is the One we are to be following; which bring me to today’s scripture.

It’s taken from Matthew 16, and Jesus had just told His disciples that He would be making His way to the cross where he would give His life as a ransom for all, and then Peter told Him not to talk like that; Jesus rebuked Peter, and then went on to say the following:

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” (24-26)

The verse that caught my attention this morning is the second half of verse 24: “you must give up your own way,”

If we are going to make our journey with Jesus a success, we must be willing to give up our own way. 

We must give up our own way to be right. 

We must give up our “well, I have always done it that way before.”

If we want to be a follower of Jesus— and be a close follower of Jesus— we must give up our own way of doing life and follow Him and let Him be our guide. 

Let Jesus tell is us if our behaviour is wrong. 

Let Jesus tell us if our decision isn't the best decision.

Now, hear me out: sometimes, Jesus speaks through Pastors and teachers and neighbours, and other Godly People. He has, and will continue to do so. 

But if we have a regular routine of having a daily quiet time with Him, if we open our hearts and minds as we open the Bible, He is going to speak to us, He is going to go into the deepest part of our heart and ask us to surrender that part of our life over to Him. He just will. 

He will, because if we want to be a follower of Jesus, “you must give up your own way.” 

We must give up our own way; because our own way got us in trouble in the first place! (See Romans, 3:23 & Romans 6:23)

Life is not like a traffic circle; its way stupider. But if we daily surrender our lives over to Jesus, it will be better, because Jesus will doing life with us. 

So, how can you take a few moments today and work on your journey with Jesus? Is there something that He might be asking you to give up? Is your own way getting in the way of His way? Take a few moments and pray to God and ask Him to not only go there in your life, but actually remove any unforgiven sin in your life, and then continue on in your journey with Jesus day by day.