“Follow Me” is a constant calling of God toward those whom He loves, as evidenced in the Bible.
In the Old Testament, God said, “Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me” (Numbers 32:11). He also continued, saying, “except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.” (Numbers 32:12). To “follow” means to have complete faith in God’s word, never doubting His promises.
King Saul of the Israelites defeated the Amalekites but could not bring himself to completely destroy them as commanded by God. He used the sword to slay the Amalekites but spared their king; he slaughtered the weak and skinny livestock but was unwilling to kill the beautiful and fat cows and sheep. God then said, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” (1 Samuel 15:11). To “follow” here means to obey and perform God’s commandments.
The Bible says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned,” (Romans 5:12). The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and this prevents people from drawing close to God and disenables them from returning to the feet of the holy and righteous God. Therefore, out of His mercy, the God of the Old Testament manifested in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16), came to this world, was crucified on the cross while bearing the sin of man, and paved a road to obtaining everlasting life, allowing man to return to God.
He is the Jesus who became flesh. As He preached the gospel of heaven on earth, He continued to call people to Himself, saying “Follow Me!,” (Matthew 4:19, 8:22, 9:9, 19:21; John 12:26, 21:22) as He had done in the Old Testament time. Following entails learning and imitation: we look at how He interacted with others, how He conducted Himself, and how He approached the goal of His life. Then we determine to do and behave in the same manner. Through these practices we follow Him until we have arrived at where He has been – the eternal heavenly kingdom.
The path the Lord Jesus walked on while He was on earth was a journey toward crucifixion. To follow Him is easier said than done. At the time, some people wanted to follow, however, although their spirit might be willing, their flesh was weak. The Lord said, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God,” (Luke 9:57-62). Today, those who wish to follow the Lord also face different kinds of challenges as every person has their own cross. A challenge can be the conflict between different faiths, or the attraction of fame and riches. The most fundamental challenge to following the Lord is man’s unpreparedness to confront the unknown future. Such a person will be unwilling to accept the calling of the Lord to embark on the only right path in life.
Therefore, the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me,” (Matthew 16:24). If someone does not have the heart to deny themselves, that is, to temporarily put down their worldly worries, emotional attachments, burdens and personal ambitions, then it will be hard to wholeheartedly follow the Lord.
In fact, it is very sweet to follow Jesus: He promises that those who follow Him will “receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life,” (Luke 18:28-30).
