Jesus Followed

I often try to picture the ideal life as described by God in His Word. Many times I will use the phrase "walking together with God" because it reminds me of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We don't try to be "Adam and Eve" like, though, because Adam and Eve didn't perfectly walk together with God. They ate the forbidden fruit. They fell short of the glory of God. They sinned.

Jesus was the only one who perfectly walked together with God in this life. He never sinned. He did not fall short of the Glory of God. He never ate the forbidden fruit. Christ is our example. That is why we talk about being Christlike. Jesus showed us how to live the perfect life here while waiting for the transformation and perfection in the next.

I think we struggle with this idea, though, because Jesus is God. It gets in the way of thinking things can be achievable because Jesus had all the wisdom, power, and authority of God. We don't, we think, so we can't do what He did.

What we can miss, though, is that Jesus didn't use that wisdom, power, or authority to serve himself. He didn't use them to be in control of others, either. Yes, he did choose twelve to teach and prepare for his death, resurrection, and ascension, but that is not the same as telling them he was in charge. In fact, Jesus regularly told his followers that he was not in charge. He constantly told them that he was a follower.

Then Jesus cried out, "Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. "If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say." (John 12:44-50 NIV)

I don't know what kind of relationship you have or had with your father, but I do know it probably affects your relationship with God. God is often described by Jesus as "father," bringing up any thoughts, pictures, or memories you have of your father, too. If you had a good father, your picture of God is good. If you had an absent or bad relationship with your father, that carries over into your relationship with God, too. Just know that whenever Jesus referred to God as father, it was a good thing to him. To Jesus, God is the perfect father - good, reliable, fair, loving, providing, protecting, and more. Jesus loved his Father in heaven. This love drove Jesus to follow his Father in heaven. Like I said, Jesus was a follower.

Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (John 14:10-13 NIV)

This becomes important to us, because Jesus claimed that his special powers and abilities came from the Father. His relationship with the Father empowered him to do all the miraculous signs and wonders he performed. Not only that, Jesus said we would do the same kinds of miracles (and even greater ones) if we have the same kind of relationship with the Father. We should be followers, too.

So how about you? Do you think about Jesus as a follower? Do you see Christ as your example? Are you a follower, too?