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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