“As Jesus was walking along, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow Me and be My disciple.’ Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed Him.” (Matthew 9:9 NLT)
People often wonder what it meant or what it might look like today for someone to respond like Matthew did. I can give you a very good idea what it might look like. Let’s say you’re a young 20’s something single man and an attractive young woman strolls up to you and says: “Follow me and I will teach you what marriage is all about!”
Some may immediately jump at the chance simply because she’s attractive and, depending on their frame of reference, they may think she might be an easy mark for sex. But, after a brief conversation, they learn she’s not looking for a one-night stand, but a lifetime companion. That would rule out many; however, some would still want to pursue her.
Then she would tell them: “I want a man who will love and serve Jesus, loving Him more than he loves me, but still loving me as the Bible outlines. Loving me as Christ loved His Church, sacrificially, willing to lay your life down, not only for me, but for Jesus.”
That would weed out most of the rest; however, a few would hang around still seeing in her something worth fighting for. “But here’s the clincher,” she would explain, “I have a physical condition that prevents me from ever having sex. Are you willing to love me without having sex with me?” I’m not aware of many young men on the planet who would agree to that, though I pray there are some, but as a married man who also loves Jesus, I understand it perfectly.
My wife is now 75 and, believe it or not, doesn’t look exactly like she did when we met, more than 35 years ago; however, may I quickly add, she’s more beautiful to me now than she’s ever been. How can I say that? Because I didn’t marry just her beautiful body, I married her soul, the beautiful person she is at the core of her being. That’s what a lot of young men don’t understand about women and what most people don’t understand about Jesus.
Many religious people, when they hear “eternal security,” they hear, “I can make a profession of faith in Jesus, then live as I please and still go to heaven.” That may not be what they would “say,” but it’s what many of them “live”. I’m a strong proponent of eternal security, not because I’m looking for loopholes, but because I now understand exactly what it means and what it doesn’t mean. And the key to my knowledge of what eternal security means is an understanding of what sin is and why it’s so critically important in our walk with the Lord.
Sin, according to Scripture, isn’t a slip up, it’s breaking a known commandment of the Lord. It’s knowing what to do and choosing, making the willful choice not to do it. It’s “missing the mark,” which doesn’t necessarily mean we aim for the target, but miss, it means we too often aim at the wrong target. We’re too lax when it comes to sin. The biggest issue with sin is that it keeps us focused on everything BUT Jesus and His will. We’re more focused on hitting the target of pleasing ourselves than pleasing God.
In John 5 Jesus told the lame man whom He’d healed, who was acting in a way that was clearly dishonoring to Jesus: “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” And In John 8 when He saved the life of the woman “caught in the very act of adultery,” He didn’t tell her to slow down her sinning or to be more cautious WHEN she was sinning. No, He told her, “Go and sin no more.”
I hope you’re beginning to understand where I’m going with this, but I can’t stop here. Isn’t this essentially the adventure Jesus was inviting Matthew to embark on? The adventure of leaving sin and following Jesus? Let’s pick this up in tomorrow’s post.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 