Follow Me

Here are a few things you never find in red letters (the words of Jesus) in your Bible:

“Knock it off!”

“Stop being an idiot!”

“If you do that one more time…!”

“Don’t make me come back there!”

“I’ve told you for the last time…!”

“You make me so mad!”

He had “children” who he “raised” to be people of good character and integrity; to be leaders; to be strong; to be catalyst for change; to mature in their faith; to learn what it means to be godly. In that way, Jesus was not all that unlike us in our desire to raise our children well. His method of teaching them and speaking to them, however, may have looked and sounded different than ours.

He said, “Follow Me.” And then he led them, patiently, by example, loving them… in all their childishness and spiritual immaturity. Because He knew that we are all children, starting in infancy, growing, learning, maturing in our faith and on a journey that needs a Guide.

Take a look in the mirror. Are you living according to Jesus’ plan for you?  Do you possess character and integrity? Are you strong enough to lead? To be a catalyst for change? Are you maturing in your faith and learning what it means to be godly? If you can say YES, I want to meet you because I haven’t yet met the person who could honestly answer affirmatively every moment of every day. We are flawed and we struggle and we mess up.

And He loves us anyway. Because He is GRACE.

Two things I want you to take away from that picture:

1)       Extend the grace to your kids that you want God to extend to you. Understand that they are young, immature, learning, growing, imperfect, flawed, selfish, strong-willed, beautiful creations of God, entrusted to your care. Let grace fill your heart and your speech as you guide them. Let all harsh words fall away (and when you lose it, let them know that you are aware that isn’t how God wanted you to act and apologize to them and to Him).

2)      Be someone you want your kids to follow. A person that snuggles up to God to meet your needs… not a credit card, a career, a bottle, a creed or “friends.”  Look over your shoulder and you will see that they are following YOU. So make sure you are following Jesus. 

There is a good chance that you want to send the message to the world that walking with Jesus isn’t about RULES, but about RELATIONSHIP.  Make that your plan as you guide your children. We are big on teaching them the rules, but teach as Jesus did, asking them to follow you, learn from you, as you patiently show them how to live in relationship with Jesus while you build a unbreakable relationship with them.