A few years ago, leaders of our church initiated a new scripture study program entitled “Come, Follow Me.” The focus of this program being to encourage more gospel learning in the home, and not just depending on being taught at church on Sunday. Now, admittedly, I have not made much effort in following the program personally, or with my family, although I hope to do so this year. But I want to share with you something that was pointed out/discussed in our Sunday School lesson this week.
The title of the program is not “Come Follow Me” but rather, there is a comma after the word ‘come’ making the title “Come, Follow Me.” Now, I’m not a huge fan of commas because I know they are one of the rules of grammar I tend to struggle with. I tend to overuse them. But, they can serve an important purpose. I have always said that to me, grammar is most important when it changes the meaning of what is being said.
I own a book about punctuation entitled “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” and one of the very simple things that it points out is that the meaning of the sentence is changed by the presence of the comma or lack thereof. With the comma, the panda bear on the cover of the book eats something, shoots a gun, and then leaves the scene of the crime. Without the comma, the panda bear sits down to eat a lovely meal of shoots and leaves. The meaning of the sentence is changed greatly by the presence of a comma or lack thereof.
So, let’s look again at the title of the “Come, Follow Me” program. What does the presence of a comma do for the meaning of the title? Well, without the comma we are being issued a command: “Come follow me.” To me, I read that phrase with an attitude of “get your butt over here!” But with the comma, we are being given two separate invitations/instructions. The first being to come. And then after we have followed the invitation to come, we are offered a second invitation to then follow Him. The “Him” being Jesus Christ.
But something that was pointed out in our class is that one of the purposes of a comma is to provide a pause. To me, that added one more layer to the invitations to “Come, follow me.” It becomes
- Come
- Pause
- Follow Me
Our first instruction is to come. Come to the places where we can feel of His presence. Participate in His church. Gather together to listen and learn. Feel the spirit of truth. Witness the fruit of the gospel. Prioritize Him.
The second instruction to pause gives us the chance to make an informed decision. It gives us time to sit with our doubts. It gives us time to ponder on whether we want to continue in the course or not. It gives us time to ask questions. It encourages agency.
The third instruction to follow him can only truly occur after we have come, and paused, and then made the choice that based on what we have seen, heard, felt and learned, that we want to do all that we can to do what Christ would have us do. Go where Christ would have us go. Become who Christ would have us be. And accept Christ is the leader. Embrace Him as your leader.
It may seem silly, but in some ways, the hardest part of that to me is accepting Christ as my leader. Accepting that anyone is in a position of authority over me chafes my pride. I have issues with authority figures. As an adult I recognize this. I don't like being told what to do. But I appreciate the instruction and the allowance to pause. It is okay to pause. It is okay if pausing is where I’m at right now. It is okay to spend a little more time on the first invitation to “come” before I take the next step to truly engage in following. Now, part of “coming” in my opinion, is to experiment with the activities of following Him. But it is okay if the conversion involved in that step is a little slower to manifest.
Everyone’s journeys are unique. And that is okay. We have merely been issued loving invitations to try, to see for ourselves, and then embrace the path when we are ready.
