Follow Me

When was the last time you had an "Aha!" moment? You know, one of those moments when something you've seen or read a thousand times you suddenly see and understand in an entirely new light for the first time.

I had one of those recently when I was reading in Matthew:

The Lord is my Shepherd

"The Lord is my Shepherd."

Anyone who has ever heard the Scripture passage above can usually tell you how comforted they are when they think of the portion from which it is quoted. And it is a comfort and solace to many. The whole Psalm speaks of being cared for, guided, guarded, commended, elevated in front of enemies. It speaks of being in God's favor, having a position of particular identity with Him, and of having an intimate relationship with the God of the Universe. What a wonderful place to be.

One might think that God had bestowed special status on the writer to the extent that He will carry out the writer's requests at a moment's notice.

The supposition is that God is passively involved with His creation. His presence is required only for answering prayers favorable to the petitioners so that life can continue pleasantly. When not needed, God can be off somewhere doing something else for anyone else. As such, God has been portrayed as being a distant parent - uncaring, uncommunicative, whimsical - anything but engaged with His creation. Since being cast out into the world, man is left to fend for himself, making progress by his own efforts. God has abandoned His creation.

His Cross, Our Cross

And He said to them all, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23

Anytime we consider Jesus, in either conversation, prayer, or any other pursuit, invariably the cross can become part of the issue. It is difficult to be involved in any aspect of Christian life without the cross being somewhere in the picture. It is a defining icon of our identification with Christ.

What do you think of when you see a cross? A group of Christians was asked this question recently. Some of their answers are listed below: