Jesus Says, “Come Follow Me.”

In Luke 5:27-28 Jesus approached a tax collector and said, “Come follow me.” He left everything and followed him. Matthew 4:18-22 records that Jesus called his first two disciples who were fishermen. When God calls us, he gives us a new purpose.

The 12 disciples were fallen and broken people just like we are. They were not famous, or world leaders, or high up the ladder of success. They didn’t have it “all together.” One was a thief, one was a tax collector despised by people, two were fisherman, one was a skeptic, one doubted who Jesus was, one was a political activist, and one had a fiery temper. They represented all walks of life and backgrounds. But God had a purpose for all of them.

God is calling people today of every walk of life no matter their past or status in life. But many are so caught up in social media, entertainment, self and instant satisfaction, narcissism, and trivial pursuits that they are not hearing the voice of God saying, “come, follow me.”

• To those who are addicted to drugs or alcohol, Jesus is saying, “come follow me.”
• To those who have come out of abusive relationships, Jesus is saying, “come follow me.”
• To those who have had a negative church or religious experience, He is saying, “come follow me.”
• To those who have been through divorce or have come from broken homes, Jesus says, “come, follow me.”

Even to those who have been murderers, evildoers, gang members, prostitutes, etc., Jesus is saying come out of your world and follow me. I will not judge you but will show you all a better way to live.

Have you been rejected by your family or friends? Jesus was also rejected. Isaiah 53:3 says, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Jesus is asking you to come out of your past and follow Him into the new future He has for you with new purpose and meaning. It will be a life replaced with hope and peace regardless of the circumstances, life lived in the way God meant for you to live.

You will have a source of strength and stability that rises above what you had before. Matthew 11:28-29 says, “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, take my yolk upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly and heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Writer Philip Yancey says, “The more ungodly, unwholesome, and undesirable the person, the more that person felt attracted to Jesus. Consider who Jesus hung out with -a prostitute, an unclean man with leprosy, a moral outcast, a Roman Centurion, a mixed-race woman with five divorces.

Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part.” Yancey goes on to say, “as a struggling Christian, I had received rejection from the church itself. It wanted me to conform and not quibble, to believe and not question. Now in Jesus, I met someone whose message centered on the rejects.”*

Call upon the grace of God today for whatever you are going through or have been through. He will set your life on a new path. When He says, “come follow Me”, trust Him. He wants what’s best for your life. You may have to leave some things behind, but what replaces it will be worth it.

*Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor, Doubleday publishers, 2001, quotations taken from pages 179-180