December 1st 2025 Devotional

🌊 Living Water Vineyard — Monday Devotion

“FOLLOWING JESUS UP CLOSE”

Matthew 8:18–22

Setting the Scene

Capernaum is shaking.

The sun hasn’t even set, and the whole town is running through the streets. People are shouting from their rooftops:

“He healed a man with leprosy!”

“The Roman soldier’s servant was healed with just a word!”

“Peter’s mother-in-law sat up instantly!”

It’s chaos—but holy chaos.

Everywhere Jesus steps, life breaks out.

Mothers are crying as their children breathe again.

Men who have been crippled for years suddenly stand.

Demons flee at a sentence.

Families are hugging in the streets.

Matthew writes simply:

“He healed all who were sick.”

If revival had a sound… Capernaum was hearing it.

But in the middle of all this noise, Jesus does something strange… something almost offensive.

He turns to the crowd—people who want the miracles, the power, the blessing—

and He says:

“Let’s talk about following Me.”

It’s not that He doubts their excitement.

He doubts their commitment.

He isn’t impressed by crowds.

He is concerned for hearts.

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Understanding the Moment — A Rabbi and His Disciples

To our modern ears, “Follow Me” sounds poetic.

To a Jewish crowd, it was explosive.

In that culture:

A rabbi chose only the best of the best.

Only the smartest.

Only the most qualified.

Only those who had the Torah memorized,

and came from the right family with the right connections.

A rabbi did not choose fishermen, tax collectors, or nobodies.

And a disciple didn’t follow casually.

When a rabbi finally said the words, “Follow me,” it meant:

• You leave everything

• You walk where he walks

• You eat what he eats

• You sleep where he sleeps

• You imitate everything he does

• You stay so close that his dust literally covers you

They used to say,

“May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.”

That meant:

Follow so close that His footsteps become your footsteps.

So when Jesus says,

“Follow Me,”

He is not being poetic.

He is giving them

a defining-the-relationship moment.

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A Personal Story — My Tamar Moment (DTR)

When I first started dating Tamar, it was all fun.

We were young. We were goofy.

We went to school, we hung out, we laughed, we dreamed.

But one day—our senior year—she looked at me with those eyes

and said the words every guy recognizes instantly:

“Where is this going?”

That’s a DTR moment.

She wasn’t asking if I liked her.

She wanted to know if I was committed to her.

And I remember feeling the weight of that moment —

because she deserved an answer.

That’s what Jesus is doing in Matthew 8.

He’s looking at all these excited people—

people who love His miracles, His blessings, His power—

and He asks them:

“Where is this going?

Do you want Me…

or do you just want what I can do for you?”

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The Modern Martyr — Matthew Ayariga

A Living Definition of a Follower

Most people know the picture—

21 men in orange kneeling on a Libyan beach in 2015.

But many don’t know their story.

They were poor workers from Egypt.

Coptic Christians.

Hard-working, humble, unimportant in the world’s eyes.

ISIS captured them because they were wearing crosses.

For five weeks, they were beaten, starved, mocked,

and ordered daily to deny Christ.

Twenty of them refused.

But the 21st man…

Matthew Ayariga…

was not a Christian.

He had been swept up with them,

a victim of circumstance.

For weeks, he watched the others pray.

He heard them sing old hymns.

He watched them give thanks in the dark.

He saw them lift their bruised faces toward heaven.

He heard them whisper the name of Jesus when they could barely breathe.

On the day of their execution,

ISIS lined them up on the sand and asked each one:

“Do you reject Christ?”

Every one of them said,

“No. Jesus is Lord.”

And then they came to Matthew—the unbeliever.

He had one last chance to save his life.

The executioner snarled,

“Do you reject Christ?”

Matthew looked at the twenty men beside him—

men he had watched suffer, forgive, pray, and sing…

And he said:

“Their God is my God.”

He chose to follow Jesus at the highest cost.

He walked into eternity covered—not in dust—

but in the faith of those who followed Jesus up close.

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Three Reflection Questions for Today

1. Am I following Jesus up close—or from a safe distance?

2. What part of my life is Jesus putting His finger on and saying, “Follow Me here”?

3. Do I want Jesus’ blessings… or do I want Jesus Himself?

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My Prayer for You Today

That you would walk so closely with Jesus

that His dust, His character, His love, His courage,

and His presence get all over you.

That when people see you,

they recognize who your Rabbi is.

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Worship Song Recommendation

“I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” — with no turning back.