I was following a gravel truck down the highway when I noticed the usual warning.

The only problem was that you have to get closer than 200 feet to read the doggone sign! The message was simple. If you are going to follow this truck you have to keep a respectful distance so you won’t get hit with rocks. Following too closely has its risks.

I think we do the same thing with Jesus. We follow Him at a respectable distance because it does not always feel safe to follow Him too closely. I can talk about how Jesus is love and Jesus loves me but when I follow too closely I get hit with rocks of truth like this.

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

 Love my enemies? Pray for those who persecute me? Are you kidding me? But He is not kidding. Jesus is asking me to trust Him in a way that shows the miraculous gift of grace. He said to follow Him.

Closely.

And He said that quite a lot as I noted in my book Stay.

I think I falter because I make faith and trust entirely too complicated. Jesus didn’t say figure out every theological jot and tittle. (Note to spiritual hall monitors: there is an important place for that discipline. No e-mails please). Jesus didn’t say, “Go and clean up your act, and I will deem you a worthy follower.” He didn’t say, “Browbeat yourself and others into behaving better in order to earn the badge of righteousness.” He simply said,

“Follow me.”

Not once. Pretty regularly.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

Matthew 4:19, niv

Jesus told him, “Follow me.”

Matthew 8:22

[Jesus said,] “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Matthew 16:24, niv

[Jesus answered,] “Come, follow me.”

Matthew 19:21

Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

John 1:43, niv

[Jesus replied,] “Whoever serves me must follow me.”

John 12:26, niv

Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

John 21:22, niv

“Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

Matthew 9:9, niv

In the immortal words of Forrest Gump, “I’m not a smart man.” But like Forrest I have a keen sense of the obvious. Jesus is saying to follow Him. That takes childlike trust on my part. The rest of it we will figure out together as I follow Him in complete trust.

I don’t need to be afraid to follow too closely. Quit hanging back to avoid getting hit with rocks of truth. Follow Jesus closely this week. The risk is worth the reward even if you get a pride bump and bruise along the way.