Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” (John 21:22 NAS95)
Eons ago, someone asked me to write a series of brief devotionals on followership. Some would ask what does that mean? Quite simply it speaks to whom or what influences leaders — who do they follow? I answer it that question with Jesus, who else? Who else compares? Yet, I have my own story to tell about understanding what it means to follow Jesus.
The resurrected Jesus tells Peter to “follow Me.” What strikes me, and where God spoke to me deeply, concerns Jesus only hanging around physically for a maximum of 40 days, probably less after making this request to Peter. Jesus clearly implied Peter could follow Him, literally, after His ascension. Huh? “Follow Me” takes on new meaning in that context.
When God ushered that thought into my life, I had to sit down and take it in to fully digest it. I can follow a living, loving, invisible, interactive, communicative, imitable, present-with-me-all-the-time Jesus? “Yes,” came the answer.
That had huge implications for what I might be missing in my relationship to Jesus. It also has real implications for leadership. For me to lead well, I need to be a follower of Jesus. I mean, expect His availability, interaction with me, now. I need to be His follower, leader-to-leader. Jesus knows how to empower people toward health, wholeness, and dependence upon Him through His Spirit.
I needed new eyes and ears to attend to how Jesus interacts as the Ascended One who remains here with me. I had thought I only needed to apply what He said, but now I needed to listen to His life. Jesus graciously led me, became visible, not physically, but He led me to see His interactions in Scripture with greater imagination, and deeper significance. I started noticing His words showing up in my awareness, things I would not think of doing or saying, but more appropriate than I could imagine to the situation at hand.
Interestingly, these sorts of events with their outcomes began shaping an understanding of His love, which was radically different from my understanding of love. I refer to it as God’s-kind-of-Love. I learned and experienced this leader to leader from following the unseen Jesus.
Followership brings something to leadership. Every leader follows someone. I hope you join me in following Him who is unseen: Jesus.
For Reflection:
“Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day.” (Psalm 25:5 NAS95)
- How do you attend to the unseen Jesus with you throughout your day?
- What practices help you cultivate attentiveness to Jesus in the midst of a normal day?
