Imagine someone you know walks up to you…maybe your child or a goofy co-worker… and says, “Hey, follow me. Do what I do.” Then he or she puts a blindfold on you. Would that make much sense to you? Would you be all excited about playing along with them? If it were me, I’d be a little frustrated. I might even exclaim, “How am I supposed to know what you’re doing if I can’t see?!?!”

Following someone (actively, not on social media) means doing what they did, so you can’t follow someone without knowing what they did. Jesus said “follow Me” many times in the Gospels, which record what He did. We can know what Jesus did  by reading about it in His Word.

If we could sum up all that Jesus did into one main idea or action, I suggest that it would be serving others.

Philippians 2:5-8

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Matthew 20:26-28

…But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Jesus perfectly obeyed the Law (love God, love others) by serving others in three main ways:

1. He met physical needs.

2. He taught about God and His Kingdom.

3. He died for the punishment of sin.

Each of these will be unpacked in later posts. But first…

If you are a truly saved believer in Jesus, then your desire is to joyfully obey Him for His glory. But if you attempt to follow Jesus without first being saved and transformed (born again) by Jesus, it will lead to weariness and frustration. Jesus gives rest from the struggle of religion such that the work which true believers do for God is an overflow of the work He does in them. If you’re tired and worn-out by serving God and doing God-things, ask yourself where your joy is really coming from and in whose power you are living and working. Jesus says His burden is light because He is with us as we follow Him. It is only by the Spirit working in us that we are able to obey Jesus’s command of “Follow Me.”