By Pst. James Kimathi
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:118-20, NIV).
Discipleship is about following Christ. Unfortunately, there are people who, despite trying to model their lives after Christ never quite become his followers. This begs the question, who is a follower of Christ?
The answer is quite simple. You cannot follow Christ unless you have his nature in you and its only by getting born again that you get this nature.
3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” (John 10: 3-5, NIV)
A follower of Jesus is one who hears his voice. one that has become his sheep.
So, why follow Jesus?
One of the reasons we follow Jesus is because by so doing, our purpose and God-given assignment become clear.
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him (Matt. 4:18-22, NIV).
Peter, Andrew and the sons of Zebedee were fishermen contrary to their assignment from heaven which was to be fishers of men. It was only after meeting Jesus and agreeing to follow him that their purpose became clear.
