Wholly Following
“Wholly Following”
By Pondering Three Persistent Questions
“The Poem of Your Life” by Michael Card
Life is a song we must sing with our days
A poem with meaning more than words can say
A painting with colors no rainbow can tell
A lyric that rhymes either heaven or hell
We are living letters that doubt desecrates
We're the notes of the song of the chorus of faith
God shapes every second of our little lives
And minds every minute as the universe waits by
The pain and the longing
The joy and the moments of light
Are the rhythm and rhyme
The free verse of the poem of life
So look in the mirror and pray for the grace
To tear off the mask, see the art of your face
Open your ear lids to hear the sweet song
Of each moment that passes and pray to prolong
Your time in the ball of the dance of your days
Your canvas of colors of moments ablaze
With all that is holy
With the joy and the strife
With the rhythm and rhyme of the poem of your life
All of us need to “tear off the mask, and see the art of our face” – that is, we need to break through the façade of self to see the master artwork of our God and Father who has created us in Christ Jesus unto good works that He has ordained beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10). But, how can that mask be torn off? Or rather, who can enabled us to do so? Only by and through a living encounter with Christ – an encounter like the one Peter experienced beside the
1. What is the Call on Your Life? John 21:1-14
In John 21, we encounter the disciples (at least the “Galilean seven”) after the resurrection when they have returned to their homeland and, at Peter’s instigation, to their former “occupation.” They returned to fishing for fish instead of following through with Christ’s call on their lives – fishing for men. But even in their old occupation, these seasoned fishermen had no success when they did not have the presence of Jesus with them. (Jesus had taught them, “Without me you can do nothing.” John 15:5)
But Jesus comes to them, calling from the shore, “Friends haven’t you any fish?” His presence provides both direction and bountiful success in their efforts. Then he graciously invites them to bring “some of the fish you have caught” as he prepares their breakfast. “I am among you as one who serves.” He shares another meal with them and fortifies them with His presence and provision.
The disciple’s sense of disillusionment and their need to be re-affirmed in the call Christ had, from the very beginning of their relationship (Mark 1:16,17), placed upon their lives, demonstrates a basic human need to have a “call” or “cause” to which we are responding in order to give our lives meaning. But, have we made the same mistake as the disciples? Are we giving our lives for temporal, material causes? What is the Call on your life? Is it God’s call or one shaped by your own ambition?
Christ provides for us: 1) A Characterizing Call that is on the life of every believer, every follower of Christ. It is the call to “Follow Me”. Jesus would soon remind Peter of this characterizing call. (See v.19). But Christ also provides us: 2) A Concentrating Call – an individual call on your life that no one else receives; only you have been designed and equipped to respond to this call. For Peter the concentrating call would be “Feed My Sheep”. Are you seeking and responding each day to Christ’s Characterizing and Concentrating Call on your life?
He Gives a Characterizing Call to All -- Follow Me!
He Gives a Concentrating Call to Each -- Feed My sheep!
The first element/dimension of the question of calling is not “What am I to do?” Rather it is “Who am I to serve?” Our response to God’s call upon our life is not “I can do this!” Rather, it is “I would not, but I must, yet only by the grace of God.” Passion is not necessarily a clear indicator of God’s Calling upon our lives. Passion leads us to do what we love to do. Calling is doing what we become convinced we must do.
No professional calling provides as many opportunities to reflect the person of Christ formed within the follower than that vocation which is, in its essence – one that takes up the cause of another, one who bears the burden of another – the calling of an attorney.
When we begin to ponder the Question of Calling we enter into living the Examined Life.
2. What is the Love of Your Life? John 21:15-17 and Luke 10:41-42
After breakfast, Jesus now turns his attention to Peter, in particular. The setting around a fire is reminiscent of the fire around which Peter warmed himself when he so recently had denied his Lord. Jesus addresses him with his given name “Simon, son of John” We would say “Simon Johnson”. Jesus did not use “Peter” – the rock. He restores Peter in the presence of the others.
First, Jesus put his questions to Peter in relation to the other disciples. Do you truly love me more than these. Peter had professed his absolute devotion to Christ – even if all others turn away, I will remain faithful. Now Jesus gives “bold Peter” the opportunity to reassert his superior loyalty, but Peter is broken. He is humbled. Rather than a brash profession of “undying love”, Peter can only bow his head and say “You know I fondly love you.” Jesus accepts his response and restores him to ministry. “Feed my lambs.” (i.e. teach) Jesus reminds Peter of his words “Satan has desired to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you. When you are restored, strengthen your brothers.”
Second, Jesus put his question to Peter alone without reference to others. And again Peter humbly confess his fond affection for Jesus. What a new view of himself! Jesus reassures him of his usefulness. Look to others. Serve them. “Take care of my sheep.” Third, Jesus put his question on Peter’s own terms – his level. Do you really have a fond affection for me? Peter is “hurt.” He has been reminded of his three denials, now with three professions of fond affection. And again, Jesus affirms Peter’s ministry. “Feed my sheep!” Peter, though you have failed, your failure is not fatal. You are restored. I trust you with my very own lambs. May your love for me be the motivation for your service – for your life today.
Examine yourself with these questions: Who/What did you spend time with yesterday? Who/what did you listen to yesterday? Who/what did you think about yesterday?
“No one can discern in Jesus the uncertainty and the timidity of one who acts arbitrarily, but His freedom gives to Him and to His followers in all their action a peculiar quality of sureness, unquestionableness and radiance, the quality of what is over come and of what overcomes. The freedom of Jesus is not the arbitrary choice of one amongst innumerable possibilities; it consists on the contrary precisely in the complete simplicity of His action, which is never confronted by a plurality of possibilities, conflicts or alternatives, but always only by one thing. This one thing Jesus calls the will of God. He says that to do this will is His meat. This will of god is His life . . . His deed has become entirely unquestioning; he is entirely devoted to his deed and filled with it; his deed is no longer one possibility among many, but the one thing, the important thing, the will of God.” Bonhoeffer, Ethics pp. 33-34, 38
When we begin to ponder the Question of our Life’s Love we enter in to living the Integrated Life.
3. What will be the End of Your Life? John 21:18-22
After restoring Peter with a look back to his past failures, Jesus now turns Peter’s attention to the future – to the end of his days upon this earth. In the same way, Jesus commands us to face our own mortality each day – “Take up your cross daily.” This is not a morbid contemplation, but rather a means of focusing us on our ultimate purpose – glorifying God. Jesus told Peter about “the kind of death by which he would glorify God.”
“What is that to you. Follow Me!” Jesus’ first words to Peter were “Follow Me.” His last words spoken directly to Peter were “Follow Me!”
Richard Hughes, professor at
But if we can live with a constant awareness of death, we will treasure all the more deeply that our identity is committed eternally into the hands of God for safe-keeping.” James Houston, Joyful Exiles p. 57
To paraphrase Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who risks what he cannot keep when he has already been given what he will never risk losing.” What will be the Cause of Your death? This is a question that most cannot answer. What will be the Cause for which You will die? This is a question that we must answer.
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 89
“Give me, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; Give me an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; Give me an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside.” St. Thomas Aquinas
When we begin to ponder the Question of the End of our Life we enter into living the Offered Life.
And so God Himself forms within his followers the Examined Life, the Integrated Life and the Examined Life -- a wholly following.