FLOWING OR FOLLOWING
John 12:23-32

“If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”(John 12:26) Serving God is the ultimate job, and there is no other way to obey Him, but to serve Him. Serving Him is a sacrifice, and it requires giving up everything for Him. It is not possible to serve Him when there is no love in place for Him. Likewise it is not possible to love Him and not serve Him. Loving God requires giving up everything for Him, for His glory. Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” To love God is to serve God, and to serve God is to love God. Are you serving Him, or you are servicing your pocket or wallet? Is your service reasonable and acceptable before God? Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Serving God is not just a thing of the mouth; it is what takes everything away for the purpose of His calling. Jesus did not only ask for us to serve Him, but he also declared what it is to serve Him when he stated that, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me…” Following Jesus means putting all possession away to following Him. Following Him is stepping after Him in the same way He walked His walk on the face of earth. Jesus gave His disciples His own expectation of how to follow Him, “When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 8:34) Jesus in His calling for Him to be followed also made it clear that the need for His disciples to follow Him was to make them fishers of men. Matthew 4:19, “Then He said to them, “Follow me and I will male you fishers of men.” It is clear that serving Him is a part of following Him. Following Him is giving up everything for Him to be able to carry us. We are to follow not as a spectator, but to learn and to become fishers of men. Jesus is not a slave master, He has rewards for all that follows Him, “…Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28) In serving Him, by following Him, there are so many blessings to be had. The main purpose of serving Him is to follow Him.
Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace that will enable you to serve Him by following Him, and not to follow the crowd.