A couple weeks ago I had to take my vehicle in to have some things checked on it. It was a drive I have taken many times. It’s a long drive, across a mountain and into another mountain area.
I was following behind a car that I had been following for some time. At one point, as I followed the car ahead of me, I looked up. Just as I was going through a traffic light, I looked up and realized that I had followed him through a RED LIGHT! Oh my goodness, there I was in the middle of the intersection, running a red light. This is something I had never done that I recall, I had never followed someone through a RED LIGHT.
I said to Breanne ‘Oh my goodness, the light is red and I am going through it.’ She said ‘what are you doing MOM?’ I said ‘following the guy ahead of me.’ Thankfully, there were no cars coming and God used it as a moment to speak to me.
As I drove through the light I heard the Lord say ‘be careful who you follow.’
1 Corinthians 11:1 tells us to follow others as they follow Christ. We are not supposed to blindly follow anyone, like I was doing that day. We are to follow those who follow Christ and His example.
One translation says ‘pattern yourself after me as I pattern myself after Christ.’
It is a great thing to have someone to follow, especially if they have gone down a path you are going down BUT you have to make certain that they are first of all following Christ and His example.
If you follow someone who is full of strife and anger, it will rub off on you.
If you follow someone who is full of bitterness and disappointment, it will taint the way you see things and it will affect how you believe.
On the other hand, if you follow someone, who is truly following Christ and His example, you will find your faith increasing. You will find that it is easier, not harder to believe for the impossible.
If you follow someone who loves and pursues God and His word, you will find that you are more likely to love and pursue God even more. They will compel you to study more, to dig deeper and to pursue God.
I always try to surround myself with Godly people who are following God. If I get around people who are negative or who have ugly language, it does not set well with me; it grieves the Holy Spirit in me. I try to spend as little time as possible with those types of people.
On the other hand, when I am around faith-filled people, our conversations are always about God and what He is doing at that time. Our conversations are always about faith and the word and it compels me to study more and to seek more…why? Because I am following them as they follow Christ.
As for me, I want people to only find God when they follow me. I don’t want them to find anger, bitterness, evil speaking or a faith-less conversation – I want to impart to them a faith-filled conversation as I attempt to bring them closer to God, as I attempt to open their eyes to more of the word of God; that is my hearts cry.
Don’t do like I did in the car that day – don’t follow someone you can’t trust who may take you into a dangerous intersection – follow those who are following Christ…and only follow those.
