O come all ye faithful

O Come, all ye faithful....We sang these words all season. Or at least tried to. I am quite certain that I could have let the song spill forth from my mouth out of rote and tradition, but I don't believe in singing words that are not true of me, so I really had to soul search before I could sing these words. I really struggled with them. I am not sure I can be labeled faithful...so do I get to come? But now, I have come to the conclusion that they are words that should be our New Year's resolution.
I started with the word "come". It is an action word. It doesn't mean sit or watch. It is participatory. So the faithful have to participate by coming. Once I got that coming meant I had to DO something, I decided I needed to know what I needed to do. So, I got out my study tools and dug into the Word to discover what God wanted me to COME and DO. As I dug around in the word "come", I uncovered an amazing truth. The word for "come" and the word for "follow" are the same. In fact, when Jesus called His disciples to "follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matt 4), it was the same word that He used when He said "come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." (Matt 11) The Word to "come" means to follow. Both are imperative commands that mean without hesitation, with urgency, without delay. To come to Jesus....means to follow Jesus....and not in a casual sense of following or coming, but with an urgent imperative that means come now or not at all. He told His disciples Follow me and they IMMEDIATELY dropped everything. They understood that the call to come was the call to follow and there was to be no delay. It is why Jesus told them to let the dead bury the dead and that they could not even say goodbye to their families. Because the call to come to Jesus is a call to follow Jesus immediately with no excuses, delays, if's, and's or but's.
Cool information, but why should this be our New Year's resolution?
First of all, it is time what we realize that coming to Jesus is an ACTION word. We must recognize that the action we must take is to FOLLOW JESUS. Simple church is nothing more than that. Making disciples that follow Him. Not half hearted, casual, delayed, hesitant, don't make me run, I am comfortable where I am kind of followers. That was not the call at all. But coming to Jesus, following Him and saying whatever HE says, we will do, no matter what kind of followers. It is focusing on our PURPOSE-to be a church that makes disciples by focusing on families. To equip the saints and make disciples not by programming, but because life is being poured onto life, by intentional relationships, creating relevant environments, meeting the needs of people; by showing the Word, sharing the Word, teaching the Word and serving the Word/World.
I'm not interested in coming to church. I want to follow at church. I don't want to come together. I want to follow together. I long not for a come to Jesus meeting, but a following of Jesus gathering. What if this year, we didn't just come to church, but we began to follow as the church? What if this year, we could sing the song....not out of rote or tradition, but with words that are true of my feet, that sounded like; "O follow, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant...O follow and adore Him....Follow and adore Him."
Now, there is a song, I long to sing-together. And a resolution for the New Year. Let's not just come to church...but let's follow as the church.
ALL FOR YOU