“Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” – Mark 1:17
I love the word of God because it is direct, straight and powerful. In this life, there are so many voices calling; so many people saying come my way and I will do this and that for you. It is common to hear people say: If you come into my political camp or if you team up with me, I will make you… Words of men are not final. They may have good intentions to help you, they want to be a blessing to you, but men do not have the final say because they may not live to fulfill their promise.
In Mark 1:17, Jesus said a simple thing: Follow me and I will make you … Jesus is the surest One to follow because He has no end. Any other person may die at any time, but Jesus lives forever. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. That means you can follow Him and be sure there will be no different story tomorrow. He has been there for you from the beginning and will always be there for you. He is the Alpha and the Omega; the First and the Last. If there is anybody to follow, it is Jesus.
Friends, today, I am throwing a challenge to you: there is nobody or nothing else to follow than Jesus. You may be following after prosperity, money, fame. You may want to have money and make a name for yourself. That is alright. But all those things will fail because after all the money and name and fame, you will find out that nothing really has changed spiritually for you. But the only One to follow and at the end you will have a reason to be thankful for following Him is Jesus.
Jesus said, “I will make you …” Only Jesus can make you (and not fail you at the end). That is very important. You have a right to follow whatever you want to follow, but I have an advice that you follow Jesus because the only power that will not fail is Christ.
Before I gave my life to Christ, I used to think I was a Christian because I was born into a Catholic home. We went to church on Sundays and felt good about doing the things everybody did. I did not know that nobody is born a Christian. The fact that you have a Christian name does not mean you are a Christian. You may come from a Catholic home or you may have a name that sounds like a Bible name – that does not make you a Christian. You become a Christian by choice. And that is the choice I am going to give to you in the next few minutes.
Look at it this way: A baby does not know what sin is all about. It is wrong to say a baby is saved baptizing him through the sprinkling of water just a few days after he is born. Baptism follows repentance. You cannot repent without knowing what sin is all about. Therefore, a person has to be able to discern between good and bad. Only then can you be able to choose and say: I do not want to live with the devil. I want to follow Jesus. That is the decision that will cause your salvation, which is also what brings about repentance – the turning from your bad way, a way that you were headed towards. The Bible makes it clear when it says that there is a way that seems right unto man, but the end is destruction. The way you are going may be interesting. You may be having a lot of fun and parties and drinks and women and men – a lot of “good life.” But that is not really good life. It is the way that leads to destruction.
Today, you must stop. You must turn around and follow Jesus. When you follow Him, He will make you to become exactly what God had in mind for you. Before you were born, God had a purpose for your life. He did not create you to be useless. He did not make you to be a victim of alcohol or drugs or sex. He had a purpose and that purpose can never be achieved without Christ. When you come back to Christ, He would make you become exactly what the Father wanted you to become.
Life is hard, really tough, without God. You may have money and every other thing, but what you do not have is real joy, real peace – the kind that knowing Jesus gives. The peace from God is not what you can get by drinking or by being in a good environment. Peace is a spiritual person. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He says follow me and I will make you to become…
The power to become only comes from God because only God can bring a man up and bring the other down. People may not like your face, but there is nothing anybody can do when God is happy with you. The Bible says, “When a man’s ways pleases God He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”
Do not waste your time following people: because they will fail you. What you need to do is to please God. People will say to you: I will help you. But when the time comes you will find that you cannot even see them and you cannot get them on the phone. They begin to avoid you. Man cannot help you. It is only Jesus that can give you the unconditional help that you need – help to save you, help to bring you out of hell onto heaven, help to give you eternal life. There is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus. Only Jesus will lead you to the way of life.
Who have you been following? Are you following people that promise you things that do not exist? People that tell you what you want to hear? Or are you following the One that will bring peace to your soul? “For God so loved the word that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” That is a good promise. Jesus said, “Come unto me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” “In My pathway is light and there is no death.” “Follow Me and I will make you to become… (What God intended for you to become).”
It is time to stop chasing shadows. Money and people are important, but they cannot save you. There is a kind of sickness your money cannot cure. There is a kind of peace that money cannot give you. Money can get you a house but it cannot give you a home. Money can get you a bed, it cannot give you sleep. Money can give you so many material things, but as for the eternal things of life, only Christ can give them to you.
Friends, it is time for you to try Jesus. It is time to follow Jesus. It is time to give up everything else and follow Jesus. Do not follow a church. Do not follow a man. Do not follow a woman. Follow Jesus. If you forget every other thing you have read in this column, try and keep this and do it. It is time to follow Jesus. As you begin to follow Jesus, things will never be the same for you.