It really is that simple. Do you know how He recruited His first disciples? He said, "Come, follow me."
That's how He called to two fishermen brothers, Andrew and Simon (who is also called Peter), in Matthew 4:19. Verses 21 and 22 tell of the calling of two other brothers, John and James. Though how Jesus called them is not recorded, what the text does say is that they dropped everything and, you guessed it, followed Him. In Matthew 9:9, Jesus recruits Matthew with the same message.
I bet Jesus called every one of His disciples with the same simple phrase: Follow me.
That's the same way He calls to us.
We're not any different from those first disciples. They didn't know who Jesus was, or what He expected from them. They had to learn, and the best way for Jesus to teach them was to show them. He didn't expect them to be perfect before they joined Him, or even after. They were just a bunch of guys, like you and me, out there doing the best they could, making mistakes along the way.
When Jesus calls us to follow Him, He doesn't expect us to be perfect. He knows we're not. What He wants is for us to follow the example He left for us.
How?
It's pretty simple, really. Kind of like following a blueprint to build a house. The architect isn't right there telling you what to do. He leaves instructions for you to follow that are clear enough to get the job done. He's not there to tell you what exact board to use, or which exact brick to place in the wall. He trusts you to make those decisions, and as long as they fall within the guidelines he provided, everything will work out just fine.
The same is true when we follow Christ. The Bible isn't a step-by-step guide for anything. It's a blueprint of how we are supposed to live our lives. We get, and have to make a lot of the choices on our own. A follower of Jesus makes those decisions based on whether or not they fit into the blueprint God left us.
That means you have to know the blueprints.
And that's where we'll pick up tomorrow.
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