Following at a Price

Following at a Price

“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’” Matthew 4:18-19

Picture yourself out on a fishing boat, just doing your job. When someone comes up to you and asks you to leave your job and then follow him, would you do it? Would you be able to give up your job, your home, your family, just to follow someone you don’t know that well? Not knowing what would lay ahead for him, and not truly grasping what it would cost him, Peter decided he would give up his life to follow Jesus.

Peter had known Jesus for about a year at this point in his lifetime, but it’s still remarkable that he would willingly give up everything. Because Peter had faith that Jesus was the Messiah, he found the decision to follow Jesus fairly easy. Over the course of his life, Peter would do amazing things for God. He would continue to follow God, even to the point where he gave up his life for Him.

Over the course of His ministry, Jesus had other people that would follow Him to a certain point, but then would desert Him at the smallest sign of trouble or disagreement. In Luke 9:57-62 some people tell Him they will follow Him, but only after they have finished business back home first. However, Jesus tells them that in order to follow Him, they must drop everything and follow without looking back to the old life.

Are there things in your life that are keeping you back? Maybe you are afraid of what lies ahead. Maybe you just want to wait until you are older and better equipped to handle following after Jesus. But just as Peter, who was an uneducated fisherman, did miraculous things later in life, it only came from daily following after Jesus.

Take time today to pray and ask God to help you let go of those things holding you back and give you courage to follow after Him, no matter what the price will be.

Day 2

You Follow But Do You Know Me?

 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”  (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV)

 Imagine all those friends you have on Facebook for a second. Now imagine that one of them spots you at the beach or mall or wherever and walks up to you. You don’t really know them well enough to have a conversation. Most likely, you don’t even know their name. To make things worse, they attempt to bring up the few things they know from your profile or the status update you posted recently… awkward right?

We are guilty of doing the same to God! All too often we take little tidbits from the bible or offer up a little prayer (much like a tweet) to God when we think about it. Maybe we even go to youth group and serve at camp. What God really wants though, is a deep relationship that is meaningful and rich. Deep down, we all want the same.

So how do we get that relationship with Him? Daily devotions, constant prayer, fellowship with believers, worship… the list goes on and on. Living a life that is holy and set apart from that of the world is near the top of the list. Believing that Jesus Christ died for your sins and is the Son of God is the first step in that relationship.

Now imagine you doing the ’Facebook friend’ thing to Jesus when you stand before Him at His throne… awkward right? Don’t let your relationship with Jesus be a shallow one, as this is the most important friendship you’ll ever have. The last thing you want to hear on the day of judgment is “I never knew you…”

Follow Me

^{Now that our Winter Bash! youth retreats are over, we want to share some of the devotions that were written by our staff and included in a 5 week devotional book that each camper received. We hope it blesses you and them!}

^{Follow Me}

²³And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:23-24 ESV)

Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest… most of you have heard of these social websites that supposedly reveal your true self to others on the internet. It is so easy to get sucked into these sites, allowing them to draw your attention from the life going on around you. Our first question for you is this; Who are you following?

This is a simple question. You could probably name off five or six people you follow on Facebook or Twitter and talk about all the cool things they say or do. Perhaps you even want to be like them, emulating their actions and activities. They set an example for your life, whether it’s a good one or a bad. The problem is, we don’t see who they -really- are and what they really stand for. We get a small taste of their lives online and the rest is a mystery to us.

God has given us the coolest Facebook page ever. It reveals everything you’d ever want to know about Him. Every detail of the life Jesus is written down for you from four different viewpoints. His closest friends even wrote about Him, leaving wonderful bits of knowledge and wisdom for those who dig in. You could spend years on His page and never see all that there is to offer. The Bible doesn't leave much of a mystery as to how Jesus walked on earth and is better than any social media page.

 Luke 9 tells us that Jesus expects us to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him. In the following weeks, we’ll repeatedly come back to this passage with the hopes that you’ll begin to see why it’s so important to do as Jesus says; “Follow Me.”