Are you really following Jesus?
And they began to beg Him to leave their region. 18 And as He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was begging Him that he might accompany Him. 19 And He did not let him, but He *said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed. Mark 5:17-20 [NASB].
Those who have tasted His love cannot leave Him. If you truly know Him, you will never leave Him. The demon-possessed man is very grateful for the healing and great good that he has received through Jesus. So far he has wandered in the graves. Tormented by demons. No one cared about him. No one could fix him. But, today Jesus has brought a great change in his life. The demons left him. Recovered, he put on his clothes and sat down with Him. Now he is looking for a new life. He does not want to leave Jesus, who has given him a new life. He made it a consistent decision. So he begged Jesus to allow to stay with Him: “the man who had been demon-possessed was begging Him that he might accompany Him Mark 5:18”. We pray to Jesus for good in our lives. When they are fulfilled, we praise God. After that, we show no interest in being with Jesus or following him. But, look at this demon-possessed man. He begs Jesus so that he may stay with Him as much as possible. In fact, if we understand exactly why we should follow Jesus, we too will make the firm decision to follow Him as this healed man.
Many are following Jesus only for worldly needs.They follow Jesus only for the perishable. That is why when their needs are met, they are not interested in following Jesus. They are ignoring the important reason for following Jesus. We can see this in the days when Jesus preached the gospel. Let us examine this passage on this subject. “So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats and came to Capernaum, looking for Jesus. 25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate some of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” John 6: 24:27[NASB]. Here we can see that a great crowd is looking for Jesus. They came to Capernaum in small boats, looking for Jesus. Here, too, it seems to us that they are following Jesus. But the real reason they follow Jesus is different. The reason they follow Jesus is not because they believe in Him because of the great signs He did. Therefore, Jesus rebuked them. Jesus told them without hesitation that you were following me to find the loaves of bread in my closet. Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate some of the loaves and were filled. This is where we need to question ourselves. Why do we follow Jesus? For the needs of this world? Or for the eternal life He gives? If we follow Him for the sake of this world, what is the difference between us and those who do not follow Christ? If we have hoped in Christ only in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied.1 Corinthians 15:19 [NASB]. Notice what Jesus said in this context. Jesus spoke to them in this way : “Follow me for everlasting life, which the Son of man will give. Do not keep your mind on the perishable. Do not follow me for the corrupt. I was not sent to you by the Father for them. I have come to give you eternal life.”
Another important reason why many people do not really follow Jesus is that they forget the good He did. Many are seeing and experiencing his visions directly and forgetting. Hearts that praise Jesus as God, forget Him. Let us look at the Word of God in this context.They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a cast metal calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” Exodus 32:8 [NASB]. The people of Israel walked on dry land in the Red Sea. They saw the dead Egyptians by the sea with their own eyes. It is written in the Word of God that all the people believed in Yahweh and His servant Moses. [ Read Exodus 14: 28-31] Why did such people now make a cast calf idol? Besides, how deadly is it to say that the cast-out calf brought them out of Egypt? What kind of human are we to think if we do see His power with our eyes and understand and do not follow His divinity? On this occasion the people of Israel of that day followed the cast calf instead of following the living God. That’s all we have too. We forget the living God and follow the world. Can’t we just remember the saying, “Let us not forget the good He did for us?” Bless the Lord, my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits; Psalms 103: 2 [NASB]. How unfortunate is it that you live forgetting Jesus, the God who created you and laid down His life for you? Test yourself once and for all to see if you can not follow Him as you forget the good He has done. He laid down his life for you to give you eternal life. What greater benefit can we have in our lives than that? He can not be forgotten if we meditate daily on the work He did on the cross. Therefore we cannot but follow Him. Look at that demon-possessed man. Jesus said to him, Go your way, tell your household of the good that God has done. But, he was the only one who kept saying that all over the place. Because, he really followed Jesus. He loved Jesus so much that he could not forget the good he received. And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed. Mark 5:20 [NSAB]. And what about you? Are you really following Jesus?