Following

After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.( Luke 5: 27-28)

When we were children we used to play a little game called Follow the Leader. The leader took the line of children around the classroom or playground. Whatever he or she did, those in line behind him did also. 

The Christian walk is not about living according to the doctrine of a book. The Christian life is one of following. Following the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the example of what to do and not to do. However, the detail within this verse that caught my attention is what happens after Jesus' invitation. Luke records for us that Levi ( Matthew) got up and left behind everything in order to follow Jesus.

Matthew rose up and left behind the tax collecting business.  Jesus did not tell him to pack up the tax collecting gig and bring it with him. He simply said , "Follow Me". Matthew did not analyze the cost, make a pro/con list and try to figure out which would be best. Stay or go? He rose up and left everything behind to follow Jesus. 

When we leave behind the right to ourselves we "rise" not fall. We go up higher, not sink lower. Leaving behind the things that hinder us from following Jesus will always result in " rising" not falling. In fact, until we are willing to leave it all behind and rise we cannot follow Jesus. 

How often do we try to follow Jesus but we want to bring our place of comfort along for the ride. We treat coming to Jesus as if  it means we ask Him to be our Lord and Savior, then refuse to leave anything behind. We essentially tack Jesus onto our lives and expect Him to bless our mess. We struggle to follow the Master as we are weighed down by a giant backpack of self interest that we refuse to put down and leave behind. 

While it is true that we come to Christ just as we are and then Jesus begins to clean us up according to His time and way, it is equally true that we must leave behind the old life. We have a choice like Levi. We can remain in our life of self interest or we can put it down and follow Jesus.  

If we boil this down to its core, what we are to leave behind is self. The right to self. The right to have my own way. To do life in my strength, on my time table, on my comfort level. Me, myself and I must be left behind in the dust. When I finally get to a place where I lay the right to myself down at the feet of Jesus, no longer thinking of me,  I then can truly follow the Master. 

Are you like Levi? Willing to get up, leave everything behind and follow the Lord Jesus Christ? Whoever said "Christianity is for the weak who need a crutch"  are only halfway telling truth. We indeed are weak but we dont need a crutch . We need a cross to crucify our flesh!