Focus: The Blessedness Of Following Christ

Text: Mt.12:15

"Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all."

No blessing is greater than the privilege of following Christ and the joy of being in the presence of God! We read in the book of Revelation of 144 people following Christ everywhere He went. What a profound privilege!

Following a leader implies believing in him and in his doctrine or philosophy of life. It means trusting in his leadership and submitting to his authority. It also means learning his ways and genuinely mimicking his manner of life.

We are called by God to follow Christ. He is our master and teacher. Christ says to us, "Follow me, and I will make you…" Christ makes us as we follow Him wholeheartedly and lovingly. He makes and molds us into what He wants and causes us to become exhibits of His love and goodness. Paul says, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children" (Eph.5:1). 

As God's children, we are very dear to Him, and He wants us to follow Him.

Following Christ is beneficial to us. No one follows Christ in vain. Indeed it is eternally rewarding, following Christ and doing His behests. Peter said to the Lord Jesus Christ, "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" (Mt.19:27). In the following verse, Jesus said to him, "Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." In Mark's version of the same story, the Lord Jesus Christ said to Peter, "Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life" (Mk.10:29,30). The reward for following Christ is both timely and eternal - both now and forever.

Our text says that a multitude followed Christ and He healed all of them. Those who follow Christ get healed. Christ is the physician of His own followers. We get healed as we follow. God says of Caleb, "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath FOLLOWED ME FULLY, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it" (Num.14:24). 

We are blessed, following our God. He brings us into the promise land and ensures that those coming after us would possess it.

Caleb had this testimony that he fully followed God. Caleb testified to Moses, "I WHOLLY followed the LORD MY God" (Dt.14:8). It is said of Joshua and Caleb, "For they have WHOLLY followed the LORD" (Num.32:12).

God said concerning all those who relented from following Him, "Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall SEE the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not WHOLLY FOLLOWED ME" (Num.32:11). They were like Peter who followed Jesus Christ from a distance - "afar off." Following Christ is not only challenging; it is comforting. It is a spiritual adventure as well as an eternal blessedness. It's time to enjoy the blessedness of following Christ!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter