ESOCS Devotional 17 April 2021
TEXT: JOHN 21:20-25
MEMORY VERSE: “Jesus saith unto him … follow thou me.” John 21:22 KJV
Jesus gave this instruction to the disciple whom He loved so much, “follow thou me”. What does it mean to follow? It literally means to move behind. But from Christ’s point of view, it simply means “Hear and do the will of the one who goes ahead of us.” In this life, we are called to follow Jesus in His footsteps as He goes before us. In this world, we are pilgrims, sojourning and moving to our heavenly City; and our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20)
Jesus commands us to follow Him, having confessed Has Lord. He wants those who follow Him to be like Paul who said, “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 2:9). Our following Him must be done selflessly and sacrificially. Following Christ must be a lifestyle because that is the whole essence of our salvation.
You must understand that to follow Jesus, you must love Him with all your heart, mind, and soul. Without the love of Christ shed in your heart, it will be impossible to follow Him in complete obedience. It is the love of Christ that gives you the will power to endure all things for His sake.
Jesus is the good shepherd, and His sheep will follow Him wherever He goes, just as the Israelites followed their God who manifested Himself in the pillars of fire and cloud. As Christ’s sheep, we must follow Him very closely to be comforted by His presence. We must not wonder away; and as long as we follow Jesus all our life, we will dwell with Him forever. The only worthy choice in this world is to choose to follow Jesus. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?
Let us therefore heed to Christ’s command to follow Him daily as Abraham did (Gen. 12:1–4). Let us follow Him in total surrender to His Lordship, without pretence and fake obedience. Let us go wherever He leads us, knowing that all things will work together for our good; and He is in the business of making us holy and blameless, to conform us to His own image and likeness, to be a radiant church. Let us follow Christ in the way of the Word and the Spirit, as children follow their parents.
Read yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
CHALLENGES
Are you following Jesus? Do you obey Him?
PRAYER POINT
Pray to God to help you heed to His call to follow Him, so that you will be chosen of the Lord.
FURTHER READING:
John 15:4-10; Ephesians 5:1-2
Thank you for reading the ESOCS Devotional today. Please share and follow us on all our platforms to contribute to the spread of the Gospel.
ESOCS Devotional 17 April 2021
