Welcome to our Lenten FOLLOWER series! Lent is a time of reflection on Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. How fitting to take these next 8 weeks and dig into being His follower. Each week’s key element will begin with a letter of FOLLOWER as an acronym to remind us of these concepts. I’m His follower, but how that translates to real life isn’t always clear. Some key elements are ever present, however. So grab your coffee, water or tea and find a comfy spot to explore why and how we can live our lives as His FOLLOWER.
F=Faith. Being a FOLLOWER of Christ begins with Faith. We cannot follow unless we first have faith in Jesus. Most of the world has some knowledge of Jesus. But as His followers, we have faith in Him for so much more than being a good man. He was and is true God and true man. He is the Son of God who was and is and is to come.
We follow because we believe He came to earth to atone for our sins and the sins of the world through His death and resurrection. This is how the apostle Paul describes our faith in this belief in Romans 10:10:
For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
Without faith we cannot and would not follow. The road of a follower is paved in faith. It supports, cushions & provides the footing needed for every following step. Following Him, our faith strengthens and we grow closer to Him. Paul reminds us in Galatians 3:26 of this faith:
For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Faith is a free gift from God. It’s planted as a seed and is up to us to water. How this happens varies for everyone but involves trust, hope and obedience. My favorite description of faith is in Hebrews 11:1:
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
Faith is neither visible nor tangible but is palpable. Those who have it, feel it. It’s a sense that no matter what this world may throw at us, we’re OK because we have Jesus. It truly is a confidence for what we hope will happen. This knowing confidence allows and encourages us to follow His lead.
To be a follower, our faith must be in God alone. This world will try to tempt us with worries, situations and doubt. But as followers, we stand strong in faith. God offers faith to strengthen and encourage us here in this world. The Bible has great examples of faith. These inspire, but let’s also remember how God has strengthened us as we have followed. God’s little acts of faithfulness in our lives provide the power to endure and faith to stand firm.
Acting on this faith is what following then becomes. Faith will to weave its way into our other themes of following as it’s so central to who we are as Followers. We may not always be able to see what lies ahead, but that’s when our faith reminds us to keep following.
God will never leave us or forsake us, we can trust Him to lead us to where He wants us to go. First there’s faith in Whom we follow. Then, we let go and follow in eager confidence to see where He will lead.