I love to ask questions and learn new things which, I think, stems from my high level of curiosity! For me, learning new information is a stress reliever. Seriously! When I’m feeling stressed, I like to read articles, wikipedia pages, watch videos on new information that I’ve never encountered before. It’s not a surprise to find me in the black hole that is Wikipedia or Youtube, clicking from link to link in the search for new, exciting information!
I share this because I recently read an article titled, “10 Quacking Facts about Ducks” (you see what I mean!). In this article, one of the facts stuck out to me: when ducklings hatch, they follow the first thing that moves in front of them. This is known as imprinting and serves as a very important survival instinct. Normally, the first moving thing ducklings see would be the ducklings’ mother. This built in trait is crucial for the ducklings, as following their mother is the best thing for their little lives. The mother provides shelter, food, security, protection and much more.
What’s rather interesting though, is ducklings that have hatched without their mother present still have the built in trait to follow the first moving thing they see. As a result, ducklings have followed everything from dogs, humans and even cardboard boxes. As mentioned, this trait is hard wired as one of the ducklings’ instincts.
In a similar manner, I believe we (humans) were made with an instinct to follow. If you look around, we are all following something: money, success, happiness, material possessions, relationships – the list can go on. These things are all good, but I don’t think that we are made to follow them. What I believe is that we are made to follow the Lord.
Let’s take a look at the disciples. In Luke chapter 5, verses 1-11 we read an account of the interaction between Jesus and his first disciples. I will summarize the story, but I encourage you to read it for yourself.
Jesus had just delivered a message to a crowd of people on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. At once, Jesus turned to one of the crowd members, Simon (who was a fisherman), and told him to drop his fishing nets into deep water. Simon was skeptical as he had worked all night and had caught no fish, but decided to listen to Jesus’ words. Thankfully he did because as soon as he dropped his nets, they were full of fish. So full that the nets began to break and the boat began to sink. Simon’s response to all this was one of honor, awe and unworthiness. He recognized that Jesus is Lord and that he was a sinful man, not worthy of this much blessing. Jesus encouraged Simon, “Don’t be afraid…”. Now verse 11 is the one I want to focus on. It says, ” So they [Simon and his business partner] pulled their boats up on the shore, left everything and followed him.
I believe it should be a natural response that when we see the Lord’s goodness or we see him do something amazing, we would follow Him. As with the ducklings, we all have the instinct to follow, but unlike the ducklings, we have the CHOICE of what/who we will follow.
So my question to you is what are you following? Are you following something that leaves you dry, empty and unsatisfied? Maybe you are following a cardboard box. If so, I want to encourage you to make the choice to ask God to show his goodness to you. Once you see it, you won’t want to follow anything else.
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