Do We Really Follow?

“Do We Really Follow?”

By Zach Wood

John 8:31-32

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

It’s really easy for any of us to do something in our lives and think we are good at it.  We often try new things or get into a new hobby or other activity and think we do a pretty good job.  Maybe at our work we get into doing a new project and we consider ourselves to be doing a pretty decent job and we feel good about.  While it’s great to feel good about a job well done no matter what we are doing, it’s still important to make sure we are actually doing things correctly. 

It’s quite easy for us to go along through life and think we are doing things correctly and quite well.  Sometimes, a manager or supervisor at a job or a friend or family member needs to stop us and show us how to really do things right.  We’re often taken off guard when we realize we haven’t really been doing things right and need to shift gears and do things another way.  It’s not that we desired to do things wrong, but we thought we had a pretty good idea how to do them.

Sadly, this happens a lot in our walk with God.  We often go through life doing things we feel are worthy of Jesus and His teachings, but really we are just doing what we think is right.  It’s easy to go through each day of life and “think” we are doing things right, when many times we may not be.  We must constantly be in God’s Word and seeking His direction through the day so that we know we are in step with Him.  We can say we are true followers, but if we’re just doing what we think may be right and what we like to do, that doesn’t mean we are truly following Him.

Jesus says if we truly hold to His teaching, then we are really His disciples.  We cannot just think we are doing life right and go on our merry little ways.  We usually have great intentions, but if we are not truly seeking to follow Christ and checking His Word to make sure we are following, then we need to reexamine our ways.  When we choose to study His Word daily and pray for guidance, then we will know the truth more and that truth will surely set us free. 

We cannot just think we know what is right to be doing, we must be in sync with His Word so that we know what we are doing is from His teaching.