"Where He Leads"

"And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." Luke 9:57

I was thinking about a song that one of the precious saints in the nursing home sang for us yesterday. It is an old familiar hymn- "Where He leads me I will follow... I'll go with Him, with Him all the way". The plan of Jesus for all Christians is that they "follow Him". When we come to Jesus for salvation it means we not only acknowledge our sins and need for a Savior, and that He alone is that Savior, but that we will follow Him the rest of our lives. We all talk about the "call of God" on our lives and wonder what He has called us to do. It is simple, the call of God is, "follow Me". This was the grounds on which He called, and still calls, His disciples.

When He calls us to follow Him, we don't always know what that looks like. We have our own ideas and opinions of what we think "following" means. We often think that it means blessings, blessings and more blessings. We think it means no more pain, no more sorrow, no more suffering or trials. We tend to think that following Jesus is an "escape" from the cares and problems of this life. On the contrary!

Jesus never promised those who followed Him that they would have a life of ease and be problem-free. He said that following Him involved taking up a "cross" (and we all know what the cross represents- a place of death; death to self and self-will). He said we would have tribulation, be hated by all men for His sake and be counted like sheep headed to the slaughter.

Jesus' call to follow Him is two-fold. It is an invitation to put your trust and faith in Him as Savior, and after you do it then becomes a command. The twelve disciples accepted His invitation and it placed them in a boat in the middle of a storm, in the desert, on a mountaintop, among demons, in the midst of angry religious leaders and beside the seashore. When we accept His invitation to follow Him, it may place us in many of the same places as well. But if we follow Him on earth, even if it is through places of pain and suffering, we will have a reward in heaven that far out weighs the difficulties of following Him here. And we will get to "follow" Him in heaven throughout all eternity.

Have a great day. Following Jesus will often lead you into some difficult places, but it will also lead you to heaven where you will enjoy eternal life.

For further reading:
Mark 8:34
Matthew 5:10,11
Romans 8:36
Luke 9:57-65
2 Timothy 3:12
John 16:33

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell
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