Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Why Follow Jesus?

“They will call him Immanuel which means, ‘God with us’.” Matthew 1v23

Matthew’s gospel is often regarded as a discipleship manual by Bible scholars. The next few weeks, we will have a look at the highlights of this gospel.

The first few chapters give us good reason to follow Jesus. Here in the first chapter, Matthew shows clearly through the virgin birth that not only is Jesus of God, but he is in fact “God with us.”

If we define God as the creator behind all that we see – bigger and greater in every dimension than us, then Jesus is that God becoming one of us. If there is no other reason to follow Jesus, this is an awesome reason – after all, he knows why we are here and how we are made.

How do we know this is true? Because we have the testimonies of each of Mary, of Joseph, and of the Old Testament prophecies written hundreds of years before which foretold this. The evidence of his later life also backs up the reality that Jesus was no normal human being – he was God’s Son, come from heaven.

It makes perfect sense to stop following other things and start following Jesus. May God help you do so.

With love and blessing,

Roland