There are certain phrases that Christians use that I struggle with. These phrases typically fall within the category of Christianeses, bits of insider language that lack clarity without preexisting knowledge. Many of these phrases are found in Scripture but entirely divorced from context and are therefore used incorrectly (ie, “hedge of protection,” Job 1:10). Others, like “follow Jesus,” are significantly less peculiar but can still lack clarity, especially if you’re unfamiliar with Christianity as a whole.
What Does it Mean to Follow Jesus?
Following Jesus is shorthand based on Jesus’ repeated calls to people in the Gospels to “follow me” (John 21:19). Essentially, following Jesus means to live as one of his disciples. To orient our lives around the truth that Jesus is the eternal Son of God and to seek to obey all that he taught. To be imitators of him (Ephesians 5:1–2). Essentially, the call to follow Jesus is the call to be a Christian.
No matter our nationality, ethnicity, gender, or language, certain aspects of following Jesus are to be common to us all, including:
- Making disciples of all people, actively sharing the gospel with them, and teaching them to obey all Christ’s commands (Matthew 28:19–20)
- Pursuing justice, loving faithfulness, and living obediently before God (Micah 6:8)
- Loving one another as Christ loved us (John 15:12)
- Living at peace with everyone, so much as it depends on us (Romans 12:18)
All of us are called to follow Jesus in these ways in function, even if the form looks different. But there’s also a sense in which each of us is meant to follow Jesus in ways that are entirely distinct from one another. Because Jesus has a plan for what following him looks like for each one of us.
Peter and John: Disciples with Different Callings
Jesus’ conversation with Peter in John 21 is a wonderful example of this. After Jesus restored Peter to service, Jesus gave him a glimpse of the future: that following Jesus would ultimately result in his death (John 21:18). That was what following Jesus meant for him, and that is what indeed happened.
After Jesus told him this, he said, “Follow me.” In this case, it wasn’t a metaphor; he invited Peter to join him for a walk. But they didn’t walk alone. John followed after them. And because they were so close, Peter was curious. If following Jesus meant that his life would end in a similar kind of death to what Jesus himself experienced, what did it mean for John? So Peter asked, “Lord, what about him?” (John 21:21).
Jesus’ answer was, essentially, “It doesn’t matter.”
“If I want him to live until I come back, what concern is that of yours?” he said (John 21:22). Jesus didn’t want Peter to be concerned with what sort of life John would be called to—and so he used this hyperbolic example to emphasize the point. Jesus knew that Peter following him was to be called to a “strategic pastoral ministry,” for which he would receive a “martyr’s crown at the end.” But for John, it was “a long life (v.22) and to strategic historical-theological witness, in written form (v. 24).”1
Both fulfilled their callings. Peter died a martyr c. 64 AD. John lived on for at least another 30 years and is believed to have died of natural causes around 99 AD. Both followed Jesus in the ways Jesus meant them to. Neither was more or less valuable than the other. Both honored the Lord; both mattered. But they were different.
Don’t Compare Yourself to Others—Follow the Way You’re Meant to
And the same is true for you and me. Even though we all are united across space and time in our mission to make disciples of Jesus, the way we do it is going to look a little different. Our contexts are going to shape that to some degree. After all, the way we pursue our mission is going to look different in Nashville than in London, Ontario, San Francisco, or Henley-on-Thames. But our context doesn’t make the part we play in the church’s mission less valuable. It just makes it different.
The same is true for us individually. We are all part of one body, but we are also different parts with different functions (1 Cor 12:12–31). The way that I am gifted for ministry is going to be different than my friend Tim, my wife Emily, or you reading this. None of us is more or less valuable than the other. We’re just different. And that’s a good thing.
We don’t need to compare ourselves to one another, because, honestly, there’s no point. It doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t change anything. All comparison does is lead to insecurity, jealousy, and bitterness. It can lead us to act in unchristlike ways, to compromise ourselves in an effort to gain influence (or, at least, attention).
But comparison and compromise are losing propositions. So embrace the way that you’ve been gifted. Delight in the way that God has gifted others. And celebrate as we all follow Jesus and work together to fulfill the greater mission we’re all called to participate in.
Photo by Free Walking Tour Salzburg on Unsplash
- D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 681. ↩︎
