The Footsteps of Jesus

“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for
you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”  (1 Peter 2:21)

The word “follow” is the Greek word epakoloutheo.  The word means to carefully follow after someone with the goal to replicate what
he or she does.  It portrays
a person so committed to imitating another person that he is willing to follow
him exactly and to do whatever he does.  This is a picture of true discipleship.  The word epakoloutheo could only
describe a person who is very serious about duplicating someone else’s life in
his own.  Although everyone will not pay
attention to this call to imitate the life of Jesus, it is a call that God has
given to every child of God.

But as Peter continued, he used a word to explicitly show
how closely we are to imitate the life of Jesus in our own lives.  Peter went on to say that we should follow “in
his steps.”  The Greek word for “steps”
is a word that actually means footprints, precisely like
the footprints one leaves in the sand on the beach.  It is a picture of us putting our feet exactly
where Jesus first placed His feet, stepping in His very footprints and
following His actions in every circumstance we face.  

This means we must learn to walk in Jesus’ steps, even if
it seems His walk—His example, His way of living, loving, and
forgiving—seems much bigger than the steps we’re used to walk in
right now.  We must be committed to step
from one footprint of Jesus to the next until we have learned to easily match
His stride and keep the pace He set while He walked the earth.

This must have been very encouraging for the early
believers who were suffering so many injustices at the hands of the Roman
government and pagan communities.  By
following the footprints of Jesus, it made it easier for them to know what to
do, how to act, what to say, what they shouldn’t say, and so on.  Jesus’ footprints were right there in the letters
of the Apostles, all they had to do was read them and then do what Jesus had
done when He was in a situation similar to theirs.

The truth is, no one was ever more mistreated than Jesus.
 When soldiers spat on Him, Pilate
scourged Him, religious leaders laughed at Him, and He was betrayed by His own
disciples He continued to walk in love and forgave them all. (See Matthew 27)  He set the primary example about how we should
respond when we find ourselves in circumstances beyond our control.  Therefore, in moments when someone treats us
unfairly, it is imperative that we remember the example Jesus set for us and
then “follow His steps.”

So instead of giving in to frustration and letting your
emotions get the best of you when you’re having a difficult time, look to
Jesus’ example and make every effort to walk exactly as He walked.  Once you’ve found His footprints in the Word
of God, pick up your feet and step forward by faith to follow His steps.

With those footprints before you, and in the power of the
Holy Spirit, you can do what He did, you can say what He said, and you can walk
how He walked through every challenge along the way to a victorious outcome!

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change in your own life.

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