This post is Day 14 in a series of studies about “Followers of Jesus”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts about each verse and how you will be acting on each thought. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to receive the notifications of new studies, you can do that today (the form is at the bottom of the page).

Followers of Jesus – Day 14

Jesus lived as a free man, often rejecting the authorities and customs of people among whom He lived. But in the hours of prayer before going to the cross, He chose to complete His work as a slave of God, and to go through with the plans of His Father.

1 Peter 2:16

Live as God’s slaves.

The Thought

This verse begins with “Live as free people”, and ends with the quote above. What seems like a contradiction is actually the best advice we can give any new believer. The best way to really live as free people is to be obedient (slaves) to our Heavenly Father, even if that leads to death.

The ultimate example of this is when Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His crucifixion. (Matthew 26:39 & 42).

Jesus had lived as a free man on the earth, often rejecting the authorities and customs of the people among whom He lived, but in the last hours of prayer before going to the cross, He chose to complete His work as God’s slave, and to go through with His Father’s plans.

Many of the situations in which we will find ourselves during our lives on earth will cause us to question whether we are in the right place with The Lord, or if we have strayed from His ways. A quick prayer of repentance will put us back on track if we have.

The early disciples lived as God’s slaves and often suffered much hardship. Many of those occasions were teaching them to trust God in EVERYTHING. That did not mean that they were not abused, misunderstood and persecuted. Many of them died as martyrs!

The great missionary Paul shared a list of some of his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27. An invitation to follow Christ may not mean an easy pain free life!

Action

Today, in many parts of the world believers are being persecuted, seeing their homes destroyed, having family members beheaded, or imprisoned because of their faith in Jesus. Pray for them, that the Lord they trust in will protect each one. Pray too for the missionary societies that bring help where they can.

But also there are revivals in these places! Pray for them to be protected and to multiply.