What does it mean to follow?

The other day I walked into a room where some of my family and a few friends were gathered. To my surprise, my sister said, "We were just talking about you." Oh really? "Yeah", said a friend. "We were talking about your blog."

Well, that could be flattering. Needless to say, I asked a little about the conversation. (Like most people, I'm one of my favorite conversation topics.) As we talked, my niece who is following this blog pointed out that she doesn't get emails when I post. What? What?? She's "following" me but still has to check in to know whether there's anything to read. Is that a mistake? No, as it turns out, Google does not send emails to my followers when I post. There's no setting to make that happen. So I ask...

What's the point of being a follower if it doesn't cause anything to happen?

So I was discussing this last night my friend Lori, and she said the same thing; she's following the blog but gets no notifications. Why? That makes no sense. And when I said that I should blog about it, she said something about there being a lesson somewhere in there. You know what? She's right.

I consider myself a follower of Jesus and I believe that following him is the key to life. He said as much: "Follow me." "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."

So...what difference does it make? Today it's so easy to want "faith lite". To say we follow Christ, but also do everything our way. To push Jesus' "follow" button but never check in on his "blog" (Scripture, prayer) to find out what he has to say about life. If there were a list of followers on his page, it would contain millions and millions of names and/or pictures. But like my followers, there's no guarantee that it means anything. Anything at all. The only way it means anything is if, as a follower, I actually read what he has to say and put it into practice.

Take a moment to read James 1:22-25. This is a picture of what it really means to follow. Read regularly, and then let it affect your life.

So I'm wondering: will Google fix things so there's a way to send emails to my followers? Probably not. I can do things like post links on twitter and facebook, but ultimately, anyone who really wants to follow this blog will have to remember to check in every so often.

That would be great...but it doesn't really matter. However, if you are following Jesus, that does matter. 

Check in. Read. And let it change you.