“Come, follow me,” Jesus said (Matthew 4:19).

Come, follow me…

That’s the invitation Jesus makes to every single disciple. Seems simple enough right?

There are two parts to this invitation to follow Jesus.

First, “Come.”

• In order to follow Jesus, the first thing required is a departure
• You can’t stay where you are if you are to go to Jesus
• You have to leave your present dreams, hopes, and life in order to go and follow Jesus
• The first requirement for following Jesus is a departure of the old life, the life prior to Jesus

The second thing is, “Follow me”

• In order to learn how to follow Jesus, the second thing required is unlearning to follow myself
• We’ve lived our entire lives following our own thoughts, our decisions, our hopes, our dreams, our best guesses. And, look where that’s gotten us!!!
• If we are to follow Jesus we must unlearn our natural patterns and habits of following ourselves

Two things required to follow Jesus: a departure, and an unlearning.

Ready to follow Jesus?

“Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (Psalm 27:14).

Wait.

Not one of your favorite words? Me, either.

So, why would the LORD want us to wait? Wait for what?

What does it mean to wait? What is the posture of the person who is waiting on the LORD? What is the waiting person doing, while waiting for the LORD?

First, waiting for the LORD is not passive. The person who is waiting for the LORD is not idle. They are actively engaged in what they already know to be God’s will.

• If you are a husband or a wife? Be the most loving and faithful wife or husband while you are waiting for the LORD.
• If you are single, be holy and chaste. Delight yourself in the LORD and live everyday to the fullest while you are waiting for the LORD.
• If you are a student, boss, employee, do your best in your studies, business, for your company and customers while you are waiting for the LORD.

Second, the Hebrew word for wait also can be translated as “look.” So, the person who is waiting on the LORD, is constantly looking to God for guidance and direction. The person who is waiting on the LORD is looking at God and waiting for God’s go ahead.

One day you will see why God made you wait.

Finally, if you are currently waiting, know you are in good company.

• Joseph waited 13 years.
• Abraham waited 25 years.
• Moses waited 40 years.
• Jesus waited 30 years.

“Blessed is the one…whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night” (Psalm 1:3).

Have you ever wondered why Christians ought read the Bible? Why is daily reading of the Bible so important for followers of Jesus?

Reading the Bible is only important if Jesus is important. There is no way to come to know Jesus apart from the Scriptures. If your information about who Jesus is comes from your feelings?…goodness. The only way we know who Jesus is through his word.

But, that’s not the reason why we read the Bible. We do not read the Bible for information. We read it for relationship, for fellowship.

Right information is very important. But we do not read the Bible for knowledge’s sake. We read it for relationship and fellowship with its author. How else are we supposed to have a relationship with Jesus? How do we expect Jesus to come and speak to us? In signs and wonders? Voices?

Jesus speaks to us through his word. So if we want to have a relationship and fellowship with Jesus, we do so through spending time in his word.

I love what A. W. Tozer wrote about reading the Bible:
My experience is to open up the Bible, get on my knees before this open Bible, and begin reading not in a race to finish, but in an attitude to receive. As I give God’s word priority in my life, he begins to honor that priority by unfolding to me what the word of God is all about.

Why read the Bible? Because that’s how we have a relationship with Jesus, and fellowship with him.