Why I Am a Follower of Christ


As he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of customs, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.--Mark 2: 14.

There is something in human nature that will not be satisfied with a mean sort of life. There is something divine in us which can never be content as long as we harbor in our hearts selfishness, hate, and greed; something which can only be content when we are striving after the finest, the noblest, the best. And there is One who waits to come into our hearts to impart to us His goodness, One who is able to turn selfishness into unselfishness, hate into love, greed into generosity.

This, I think, explains why Matthew, surnamed Levi, responded so readily when Jesus called to him and said, “Follow me.” Jesus was already known to him. He knew of His teachings and ministry of healing. He was acquainted with Andrew, Peter, James, and John--they were his neighbors. They had become disciples of Jesus, and Matthew had seen a difference in their lives. The change in their lives pointed up something he had been longing for. He was not satisfied with the sort of life he had been living. He saw in Jesus the promise of something that would lift him to a higher level, that would make life better and happier and more radiant, something that would give new meaning to his life, and a new purpose.

Any good example helps us. But we need something more than an inspiring example. I am a follower of Christ, not only, not chiefly, because in His example is the highest standard of character and conduct and human duty, but because I have found Him to be the Savior I needed, that what He bids me be and do, He enables me to be and do. I have found, as Paul testified, “In Him who strengthens me, I am able for anything” (Eph. 4: 13).

If Christ is to make His goodness realizable in your life, He must come, not first as the perfect example to be followed, but as Savior from sin, as the Great Deliverer who will strike off the chains and set the captive free. It is so that He comes. He bends over the weakest of us, and says, “Follow me.” If we follow Him, He makes His own strength ours. He walks at our side, and aids our stumbling feet up the steep path towards the ideal He sets before us.

This, I repeat, is why I am a follower of Christ.