"And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Matthew 4:19
What's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? For many, the most common thing we reach for when we wake up is our smartphones or gadgets. For others it might be the television remote, their coffee or the newspaper. It's barely embedded into our nature to begin by reaching out for Jesus Christ in the morning and holding on to Him throughout the day.
The four Gospels in the New Testament record twenty-one accounts where Jesus calls someone to follow Him. There is a very strong biblical emphasis on following Jesus, and there's a very good reason why - because everything we do in life starts with following Jesus, and the best way this applies is beginning with Jesus on a daily basis.
Everything we do and everything we are starts with Jesus Christ. John 1:3 tells us, "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men." Because Jesus was the beginning point of all creation, He is meant to be the beginning point of everything we do and everything we are.
There are two things that we find in Christ alone that establish why our everyday living must always begin with Him: identity and purpose. Who we are and what we are to do today must always be based on the person of Jesus Christ. Who are we in Jesus Christ and through His finished work? And as a result of that finished work, what are we called to do now?
I know some people for instance who start the day by dwelling on yesterday's mistakes, completely forgetting that through Jesus Christ, God's mercies are now new in the morning. This consequently affects how we view who we are and what God calls us to do.
To begin our day with Jesus means to make the resolve and saying that Jesus has gone ahead of us and marked our way and we are simply to follow Him. Long before you got your day figured out, Jesus already planned out everything. That's not to say that your day will be problem free, but that even in the midst of problems you know you will get through it because Jesus has already been there.
When we start our days with the resolve to follow Jesus then we will most likely continue the day and end the day with Jesus as well. How do you start your day? Maybe it's time to make an adjustment and start first with the resolve to follow Jesus.
