Follow
Recently I started to ‘follow’ LadBaby on YouTube. The quirky misleading title is actually husband and wife, Mark & Roxanne Hoyle, who make short funny videos of themselves constantly pranking one another! On occasions they do something kind and sweet too. For the last two years they have produced charity singles in aid of the Trussell Trust (the charity behind the nation’s Foodbanks) and have been the Christmas number one!
This kind of ‘following’ is common on social media these days as we love to track our celebrities every move. According to Google, Cristiano Ronaldo is the most followed individual on Instagram, with more than 202 million followers.
Some 2000 years ago Jesus asked people to follow him…
“When Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the lake because they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, ‘Come follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ So Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed him.”
When Jesus asked these young fishermen, he was not asking them just to watch what he got up to. He had far more in store. The New Testament Gospels tell the story of how these men, and others, shared life with Jesus. They went with Him, they saw and experienced all that He did. They partnered with Him, and eventually took over and passed on what they did to many others.
Following Jesus is not passive: you don’t simply ‘like’ what He does! Following Jesus is a call to relationship, partnership and purpose. It’s a lifelong commitment full of faith, obedience and adventure. That gets a ‘like’ from me! So who are you following...?
God bless you!
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader