When Jesus called his disciples, he did not do so in the usual way. In those days, disciples were young men who were
educated and committed to following their master, someone who they believed in
and chose to follow. When Jesus called
his disciples, however, they were young fishermen who, though they had a thorough knowledge of the Torah, had been rejected by the other
religious masters of the day. In
choosing them and calling them to follow him, Jesus was saying that he believed
in them and wanted them to become "fishers of people."
So it is with us.
When Jesus calls us to follow him, it is because he believes in us and
wants us to follow him. To be a disciple
takes three things: 1) we must believe
that Jesus believes in us; 2) we must be committed to following him, going
where he goes, sitting where he sits, doing what he does; and, 3) we must be
willing to leave our “nets”--the habits and ways of thinking that we drag
behind us through life--and take up the gospel.
As you continue to live sacrificially this week, consider
what it means to be called to follow Jesus. How
difficult has it been for you to sacrifice? How might believing that Jesus
believes in you affect that? How has
saying “no” to something in your life enabled you to say “yes” to something
else? To Jesus? How has living sacrificially helped you to “take the follow?”
"Come. Follow me," Jesus said. "I will make
you fishers of people." – Matthew 4:19
I have learned a lot through this experience. Not that I have successfully given up worrying. On the contrary; I have added to my list of worries why I can't stop worrying! But, paying attention to when I worry, and why, has shown me that to stop worrying I have to "recast my net." That is, to change what I do I have to change the way I think--about myself, about God, about the world. It isn't easy, in fact, it's quite hard. But, knowing that Jesus believes in me makes it at least seem doable.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post Kelly! I just read it to my brother who struggles with worry and trust. In reading your words to him, we both found hope in this message. We decided instead of saying "I am going to try", we need to believe "I can do all things through Christ". Thanks for the timing of your post! Go God!
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