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footsteps of jesus

Footsteps of Jesus

Words: Mary Bridges Canedy Slade (b. Jan. 18, 1826; d. April. 15, 1882)
Music: Asa Brooks Everett (b. Sept. ___, 1828; d. Sept. ___, 1885)

Note: This 1871 hymn is called Footsteps of Jesus in the Cyber Hymnal. This does seem to be the most used title over the years, though several books I’ve seen use “Footprints of Jesus,” a phrase taken from the refrain.

(1) Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling,
Come, follow Me!
And we see where Thy footprints falling
Lead us to Thee.

Footprints of Jesus,
That make the pathway glow;
We will follow the steps of Jesus
Where’er they go.

The original song had seven stanzas, but only four are commonly used today ((1), (2), (3) and (7)). The others may be of interest. Two of them speak of Gethsemane and Calvary, indicating that the summons to follow Christ will lead at times to suffering.

(4) Though, dear Lord, in Thy pathway keeping,
We follow Thee;
Through the gloom of that place of weeping,
Gethsemane!

(5) If Thy way and its sorrows bearing,
We go again,
Up the slope of the hillside, bearing
Our cross of pain.

(6), the other stanza often missed, provides a concluding pair with (7). It pictures the joys of heaven in the fellowship of the saints, and in worship around the throne of God.

(6) By and by, through the shining portals,
Turning our feet,
We shall walk, with the glad immortals,
Heav’n’s golden street.

(7) Then at last when on high He sees us,
Our journey done,
We will rest where the steps of Jesus
End at His throne.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

The call to “follow Me” is found many times on the lips of the Lord Jesus, in the Gospels. One of the things we discover is that following Christ is a personal and individual experience. Yes, there are common elements. But it’s evident that the Lord may lead one on a path whose particulars are different from another’s. It was Peter’s curiosity about John’s future that brought this rebuke from the Lord: “What is that to you? You follow Me” (Jn. 21:22).

But having said this, we can also see in the Gospel record many of the common components in following the Saviour.

  1. “Follow Me” is a call to discipleship and learning from the master Teacher. That was a major purpose of the calling of the twelve, who heard His teaching for about three years. Among them was Matthew, or Levi. “He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me’” (Lk. 5:27).
  2. “Follow Me” is a call to service for the Lord. “Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men’” (Mk. 1:17). “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me” (Jn. 12:26).
  3. “Follow Me” is a call to experience the Lord’s protection and provision as we trust Him as our Shepherd. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (Jn. 10:27).
  4. “Follow Me” is a call to identify with Christ, and to follow the path of sacrifice. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23).
  5. “Follow Me” is a call to adopt spiritual and eternal values and priorities. To the rich man who seems to have made a god of his wealth, Jesus said, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Lk. 18:22). Another tried to excuse himself from serving the Lord, because of other duties: “He said to [him], ‘Follow Me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God’” (Lk. 9:59-60).
  6. “Follow Me” leads on past this life to our heavenly home. In words that speak either of death, or of life beyond the grave–perhaps both–Jesus had this exchange with Peter. “Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward’” (Jn. 13:36).

Questions:

  1. What are some of the things one who is a follower of Christ will be doing?
  2. What are some things a follower of Christ will avoid doing?

Links:

Today in 1826 – Mary Slade Born

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Mary Bridges Canedy Slade was a pastor’s wife who lived out her whole life in Fall River, Massachusetts, the town made famous by the 1892 Lizzie Borden murder case. Mrs. Slade had died ten years before this, but could well have known the Bordens, since the town was not that large. She was a teacher and a writer, an assistant editor of The New England Journal of Education. Mary Slade wrote a number of gospel songs, and several of them are still found in some books.

Tell It Again is based on a true incident. Years ago, a missionary visited a dying boy in a tent in a gypsy encampment, in England. Bending over him, he recited the words of John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The dying boy listened, and faintly whispered, “Nobody ever told me.”

We do not know all the circumstances of course. But what a tragedy–that there are still some who have never heard the gospel of grace. Paul asks pointedly, “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14). Mary Slade’s hymn says:

Into the tent where a gypsy boy lay,
Dying alone at the close of the day,
News of salvation we carried; said he:
“Nobody ever has told it to me!”

Tell it again! Tell it again!
Salvation’s story repeat o’er and o’er.
Till none can say of the children of men,
“Nobody ever has told me before.”

“Did He so love me, a poor little boy?
Send unto me the good tidings of joy?
Need I not perish? My hand will He hold?
Nobody ever the story has told!”

Mary Slade also gave us Who at My Door Is Standing? (based on Rev. 3:20), and Footsteps of Jesus. In the latter, “We will follow the steps of Jesus” is the commitment required of disciples of Christ. Appropriately, some form of the word “follow” is found 88 times in the Gospels, in our English Bibles. It begins with Christ’s command, “Follow Me” (Matt. 4:19), and ends with the Lord’s rebuke of Peter when he became curious about the future of John.

Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come [i.e. until My second coming], what is that to you? You follow Me.”

Jn. 21:21-22

Following the Lord, step by step, presents an image of both faith and obedience. It also reminds us that, just as physical walking involves taking one step at a time, so it is with living for Christ and serving Him.

Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling,
Come, follow Me!
And we see where Thy footprints falling
Lead us to Thee.

Footprints of Jesus,
That make the pathway glow;
We will follow the steps of Jesus
Where’er they go.

(2) Today in 1877 – George Robinson Died

George Wade Robinson was born in Ireland. He became a Congregational pastor, and also produced a couple of books of poetry. He is known in hymn history for one hymn in particular, I Am His and He Is Mine (or Loved with Everlasting Love), published in 1876. The second stanza speaks of the new perspective on all aspects of life the believer has. Missionary to India, Henry Martyn (1781-1812) put it this way:

Since I have known God in a saving manner, painting, poetry and music have had charms unknown to me before, for religion has refined my mind and made it susceptible of impressions from the sublime and beautiful.

Loved with everlasting love, led by grace that love to know;
Gracious Spirit from above, Thou hast taught me it is so!
O this full and perfect peace! O this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.

Heav’n above is softer blue, earth around is sweeter green!
Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen;
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow, flowers with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.

(3) Today in 1917 – Louisa Stead Died

It was a sunny day in the early 1880s. Louisa M. R. Stead, her husband, and their four-year-old daughter Lily, were enjoying a day at the beach on Long Island Sound. Suddenly, in the middle of their picnic lunch, they heard cries for help coming from the sparkling sea. Quickly, Mr. Stead plunged into the water to rescue a frantically struggling boy. But as sometimes happens, when he reached the boy, the terrified child pulled his rescuer under. Both of them were drowned, as Louisa and Lily looked on helplessly.

For Louisa Stead (1850-1917) the tragedy raised serious questions. Why had God taken her husband, a man so committed to serving Christ? Why had she been left alone, with a young daughter to raise? There were no specific answers–as many times there are not. But the Lord seemed to say, “Trust Me. Trust Me, even if there seems to be no logical explanation. Trust Me even if I choose not to explain.” And Louisa did. She opened the Word of God, claimed His promises, and rested in His infinite wisdom and love.

It was a time of great spiritual growth for her. She learned the truth of God’s promise, “You [Lord] will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isa. 26:3). With the peace of God flooding her soul, Louisa Stead composed the words of a simple hymn. ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus is the only song she has given us.

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, “Thus says the Lord!”

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

After she lost her husband, Mrs. Stead went with her daughter to South Africa, and later to Southern Rhodesia, serving there for 25 years as a missionary. In the words of her hymn, her testimony was, “I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee, / Precious Jesus, Saviour, Friend.” At her death, her fellow missionaries commented, “We miss her very much. But her influence goes on as our five thousand native Christians continually sing this hymn in their native language.”