Believer or Follower?

Hey guys, Israel here, and I'm in my car and I'm driving to the gym. And I had my men's Bible study, my men's group this morning, and we had some great conversation. And the purpose of that is to really just grow together, do life together, and grow in our faith so we can really be on purpose and intentional with how we treat our wives, how we treat our kids, and impact our families, how how that transcends into how we respond at work and just our professional life. So it helps strengthen all those areas, and as iron sharpens iron, we're all getting better, we're all leveling up. So that's the purpose of that. And no judgment in any way, shape, or form, but if you're not in a men's group, you're not in some sort of Bible study, or you're in a relationship with other men, um, it's really hard to maintain that strength mentally, physically, and spiritually. But toward the end of that, of our group this morning, we I brought up a point, and it's something I'm working on myself, but there's a big distinction between being a believer of Christ and being a follower. If you think about just the evolution, or even the time that Jesus walked the earth, the impact that he made, he didn't go up to the disciples and say, hey, before they knew him, hey, I want you to just drop your nets, and I just want you to believe in me. Go about your day and your normal life and do what you've always been doing. You don't need to change. You just believe in me. No, what did he say? He made— there's a very clear distinction between being a believer and being a follower. He said drop your nets, pick up your cross, and follow me. Because being a believer, you can go about doing your same old thing. There's no— you don't have to change. Whereas being a follower, you actually have to take action. You have to take a step. You have to actually move in a direction you haven't gone before, right? It's uncomfortable. There's a path that you're venturing on that you've never been before. So there's this sense of unknown, right, that's going to happen. But if you think about the definition of faith, right, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, is if you truly believe in your heart and not just in your head that you're going to be changed by taking these steps, then that conviction will be so strong, that belief will be so strong, that it'll transcend into actually following. And following is where the action happens. It's implementation. How many people believe a lot of things? Let's just relate it to health. How many people pretty much know what they need to do— exercise, nutrition, things like that— and they believe that that's what they need to do, but yet they don't actually live it out? They don't actually implement it. They don't get in the gym. They don't— because that belief hasn't made the next step that needs to happen in order to actually see change and see results. You have to actually follow and do and take those steps. So that just was something I wanted to get off my chest and off my heart and just encourage you. Specifically, I'm speaking to those Christian fathers over 40, is whatever it is that you're believing, if you look in the mirror and truly believe it, are there actions, are there evidence that actually prove that that belief is actually something that you're doing? So you could— what whether it's your faith, it's your— what you're doing to, you know, your marriage, your family, your physical health. But ask the question, if I'm— am I just believing or am I actually following? So there's a big huge distinction and a factor because when you truly follow something, there should be fruit and evidence that you have taken action and you're bearing that fruit in your life. So hopefully that hits a chord in a good way. Again, no judgment. It's between you and God, but truly ask yourself, am I just a believer or am I a follower? Is there evidence to prove that? Love you guys.