“Come Be My Follower”

“If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake day after day and follow me.”—LUKE 9:23.  

TOWARD the end of his ministry, Jesus was witnessing in Perea, a region across the Jordan, northeast of Judea. He was approached by a young man who asked what he had to do to inherit everlasting life. Jesus, after ascertaining that the young man was faithfully observing the Mosaic Law, issued an outstanding invitation. He said: “Go, sell what things you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come be my follower.” (Mark 10:21) Just think—an invitation to follow Jesus, the only-begotten Son of the Most High God!  

That young man rejected the invitation, but others accepted it. Earlier, Jesus had said to Philip: “Be my follower.” (John 1:43) Philip accepted and later became an apostle. Jesus repeated the invitation to Matthew, and he too accepted it. (Matt. 9:9; 10:2-4) Indeed, Jesus offered the same invitation to all lovers of righteousness when he said: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake day after day and follow me continually.” (Luke 9:23) Hence, anyone can be Jesus’ follower if he really wants to. Do you have that desire? Most of us have already responded positively to Jesus’ kind invitation, and in the field ministry, we convey that invitation to others.  

Sadly, though, some who have shown an interest in Bible truth do not continue. Rather, they slow down and eventually “drift away” from following Jesus. (Heb. 2:1) How can we avoid falling into that trap? It helps if we ask ourselves: ‘Why did I choose to follow Jesus in the first place? What does it mean to follow him?’ Bearing the answers to those two questions in mind will help us to strengthen our resolve to remain on the fine path we have chosen. It will also help us to encourage others to follow Jesus.