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Into His Likeness

Be Transformed as a Disciple of Christ

Part One: Chapter 1 “Follow Me”

Reflection by Darrin Nelson

 

“He wants to enter our lives and shine his light on any areas of darkness that keep us from a closer relationship with him. Will we let him in?” pg 11

There are so many invitations in our lives today, each and every day. If you think about it every email is an invitation. Every online ad, every commercial, every encounter with a person. These are all invitations. Then with each invitation we have to make a decision. To respond or not respond. It is almost impossible to respond to every email today. Between the ads that we receive and important messages I think I could spend all day trying to respond to everything.

All this can be very overwhelming. So what do we do with it all. We make decisions such as “Yes I will respond”; “I am not responding to this.”; and then there is the “Well maybe later”. I believe that a lot of our priorities today are set by what is most urgent. Then from there everything else gets prioritized. So the question to be asked is, ‘Where does that leave your relationship with God?’.

As you know, God desires so much to be in relationship with us that he himself became one of us, Jesus Christ. Because of this desire He invites us each day to consider our relationship with Him. Just as he said to his disciples, “Come and you will see” (Jn 1:39), Jesus desires us to follow him, be his disciple, and experience His ‘words and deeds’. Over the years here is what I have experienced. The more I said ‘yes’ to His invitation, the closer it moved to the top of my list of priorities. It has taken a while, but now it sits at the top just about every day. I get up grab my coffee and be with my Lord. By the way, he likes coffee too. Lol.

Author Ed Sri opens this chapter with a very similar scenario. Instead of Jesus finding someone sifting through emails and other daily tasks, we see Jesus approaches a busy tax collector named Matthew. Jesus invites Matthew, “Follow me”. Now Matthew has a decision to make. In that moment, like us, I am sure Matthew had a number of emotions running through his heart and mind. Do I follow him? What does that mean for my current life?

Ed Sri mentions a question I know went through my mind years ago. I think many of us experience this, “I wonder what it would be like to follow Jesus? What would my life be like if I did this? One question I struggled with as a Catholic years ago was “Would I be looked upon as an odd Catholic talking about being a disciple of Jesus?” Trust me, years ago at times people questioned if I was moving toward being a Protestant. But even Bishop Barron says that what makes us Christian is following Christ. I understand this seems new for so many Catholics. But for us who are seeking to truly understand the real meaning, purpose and presence of God in our lives, being a disciple of Jesus Christ lead us toward the Truth we seek.

Take a moment if you would like to either respond to my personal reflection or to write some of your own thoughts about this chapter. You can either submit your reflection below or go to my Facebook page to share your thoughts with others. Click here for the Facebook page link. I look forward to your thoughts.

Your friend in Christ,

Darrin

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