There is a chorus in The Salvation Army song book that says:

“Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus, anywhere, everywhere, I will follow on;
Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus, everywhere He leads me I will follow on.”  

William Orcutt Cushing

Being a follower of Christ is being willing to do whatever Jesus calls us to do at the time He asks us to be obedient to His will. This certainly may be hard to do at times and something our mind might struggle with, but to be obedient, we must listen to the Holy Spirit and follow in the footsteps of Jesus. That is real commitment! Some think of Jesus and following Him like a fan club. The dictionary defines a fan as “an enthusiastic admirer.” Fans want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires self-sacrifice.

However, as we seek to be an obedient follower of Christ, we cannot do this in our strength without Jesus’ gift of grace through salvation and the Holy Spirit empowering us. Jesus clarifies this perfectly in John 15:4-5:

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

If we are genuinely in Christ, we will bear the fruit of righteousness. We will increase in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness” and “self-control” (Galatians 5:22). Just like a fruit tree cannot help but produce the fruit of its kind, the Christian abiding in Christ cannot help but produce Jesus’ likeness in their life. Jesus’ spiritual DNA is infused in us, and we will allow Christ to guide us in all things of our life.

Remember the words of Paul:

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit”

Galatians 5:25

Something only possible through Jesus Christ.