Follow Slow

We love the word "follow." It sounds active. It sounds brave. But Jesus attached a word to it that changes everything: daily.

Following Jesus is not one dramatic decision. It is a thousand quiet ones. It is choosing honesty when the lie would be easier. It is opening your Bible in the morning when you would rather scroll. It is saying yes to the conversation you have been avoiding because someone in your life needs to hear about the Christ who changed yours.

When I was in youth ministry, I watched students give their lives to Jesus and mean every word of it. But many of them expected the Christ-following to always feel the way it felt on the night they first believed. When it didn't, they assumed something was wrong. They thought faith was supposed to move fast.

But Jesus never said follow fast. He said follow daily. And daily is slow.

Slow is reading the same passage three times before it speaks to you. Slow is praying again, and again, for a friend who still has not come to faith. Slow is trusting that God is working even when you cannot see the evidence.

Paul told the church in Galatia, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary" (Galatians 6:9, NASB). The promise is real. But the timeline belongs to God, not to you.

If your faith feels slow right now, do not mistake that for failure. Slow Christ-following is still Christ-following. Roots grow underground before anything breaks the surface.

Stay in it. Follow daily. He is worth the slow.

*Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for calling me to follow you as your disciple and friend. Please strengthen my heart to do that, to make daily decisions according to your leading and not my feelings. Thank you that you promise a reward for persevering, slowly but faithfully, in doing good. *

Throughout this day: ask yourself where you may be discouraged by seemingly slow progress, or where you know you are not following Jesus, faithfully, daily. Confess to God as necessary and ask for his power to strengthen you in following him.