Follow: November 25, 2013

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2013.

FOLLOW

DEFINITION:

To accept as a guide or a leader; to accept the authority of; to imitate or copy; to pursue or go after; to conform to or comply with.

SCRIPTURE:

Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.  Exodus 23:2

The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites and say to them: I am the Lord your God.  You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you.  DO NOT FOLLOW THEIR PRACTICES. Leviticus 18:1 

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

By definition, follow means to accept someone as a guide or a leader and to do as they do.  People can choose to follow many different leaders but tend, most often, to follow the crowd.  There is a real danger in following the crowd. Just because "everyone" is doing something doesn't make it right.  Following the crowd will lead us to think as they think and cloud our judgment concerning God's standards of what is right and wrong.

After God called Moses to the mountain top at Sinai to give Moses the Ten Commandments Moses brought God's instructions to the Israelites to teach them how God wanted them to live their lives.  One of God's instructions was "not to follow the crowd in doing wrong." (Exodus 23:2)  Although Moses spoke these words so long ago (1445 BC) this instruction applies to us today.  God's commandments never change.  We must not follow the crowd when they are doing the wrong things.  This means we often find ourselves standing all alone.  This is not an easy thing and many will find it easier to just follow the crowd.

One of the major issues parents have to deal with in raising their children is their children's desire to follow the crowd.  Teenagers, particularly, want to be like everyone else, dress like everyone else, style their hair like everyone else, do what everyone else does, and on and on the list could go.  Teenagers are very vulnerable to peer pressure, to follow the crowd. A teenager’s first drink, first cigarette or first drug use is almost always tried as a result of the urging of their friends.

What does a parent do?  Parents must know who they themselves are following.  Are they following the crowd?  If they are following a crowd that is not living as God would have them to live, their instruction to their children to not to follow the crowd will fall on deaf ears.  Children will follow the example of the parents.  Our actions always speak louder than our words.

God created us to love and serve Him.  Jesus said whoever serves Him must follow Him.  (John 12:26)  When Jesus chose His disciples He instructed them to "Come, follow Me."  (Matthew 4:19)   When we follow Jesus we must follow Him completely.  When Jesus called the two brothers, James and John, they were fishing with their father.  Immediately, they left the boat and their father and followed Him.  (Matthew 4:22)   They left all too completely follow Jesus.

We must also follow Jesus wholeheartedly.  Jesus' commandment to us is, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."  (Matthew 22:37)

The question for each one of us today is:  Who are we following?  Are we following the crowd?  We must also ask ourselves:  Are we following Jesus completely and wholeheartedly or just when it suits us?

LEARNING: 

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 95:1

O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. 

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, keep me from desiring to follow the crowd.  Help me in my desire to follow You completely and wholeheartedly.  Help me to live my life so that it is an example to my children so that they too will desire to follow You and love You with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their mind.