Four Steps To Follow Jesus

As we go through our daily lives, it’s easy to get so absorbed that we forget about following Jesus. In the verse below, the Apostle Peter made it clear that we Christians were called to walk with our Lord and Savior. This post is the first in a series called: Four steps to follow Jesus.

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. I Peter 2:21 NIV

This post will cover the first of four steps to follow Jesus.

Step One: Love God & Love Your neighbor

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ “There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31 NIV

What does it mean to love the Lord our God with all my heart? The word ‘heart’ refers not just to the ticker that keeps pumping away, Lord willing, inside me.

In the biblical sense, the word ‘heart’ refers to our innermost being–the essence of what we are as individuals. With this command, Jesus instructs us to give our complete and total love to God.

He goes on to make the point that loving God goes hand in hand with loving our neighbor. Since God has commanded us to love our neighbor, we cannot claim to love God if we consistently disobey him when it comes to loving our neighbors.

But what did Jesus mean by the word neighbor? One of the Jewish scholars asked that very question. In reply Jesus told him a parable:

The Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:30b-37 NIV

It’s critical to pay attention to what Jesus meant when he said at the end, “Go and do likewise.” To me, that’s a call to do things the way the Good Samaritan did. He did not ignore the injured man as did the others. Nor did he look to authorities or others to help. He didn’t wait, he just did it himself.

How do we know how and when to help other people? Fortunately, Jesus gave us an easy formula to follow: