Matthew 4:18-22
While Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers. One was Simon, also known as Peter, and the other was Andrew. They were fishermen, and they were casting their net into the lake. Jesus said to them, “Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.” Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him.
Jesus walked on until he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father, mending their nets. Jesus asked them to come with him too. Right away they left the boat and their father and went with Jesus.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
One day a few months before my grandmother moved to the assisted living facility, I drove over to her house, and she wasn’t there. The door was unlocked, her purse was where she kept it, as was her walker… but she was nowhere to be found. After several minutes of frantically searching through her house and around the yard outside, I decided she had gone somewhere with a friend. If she had left for a walk around the block, she would have taken her walker. Sure enough, in a few more minutes a truck pulled up, and my grandmother and two feeble, elderly, and most unwell friends emerged. They had all been to buy some peaches somewhere out in the countryside. I reminded my grandmother that she had agreed not to ride with these people because they were in such poor health, and she said, “… but they wanted me to go with them.”
My grandmother was a “gad-about” in her time. We had a running joke that even on her sickest day, she would get up and go with the first person who stopped by and invited her. It didn’t matter who it was or where they were going, really… or in this case, that her “driver” had no business being behind the wheel of a vehicle. Someone said, “Come with me!” And she did!
If only we were as eager to follow Jesus! If only we were eager and willing to get up on our worst day and do whatever He needed us to do! But we find all sorts of excuses, don’t we? “Not today, LORD. Maybe next week – or next year. I’m not able… I’m not well… I’m not dressed nicely enough… I’m having a bad hair day…I’m busy…I’m not interested.”
When we come to the point where we can drop what we are doing to follow Jesus and serve Him, who we are as a Christian disciple changes dramatically. Total obedience to God is one of the hardest things for Christians to attain. Part of our resistance lies in our human selfishness… and part lies in the devil’s ability to fill us with fear and to convince us that following Jesus will cost us – freedom, friends, ridicule, and more. And he’ll tell you that the last thing you want to do is to “give up” anything in your already great life.
In truth, the devil wants you to stay right where you are… to never go anywhere. He wants you stuck in a rut… focused on yourself, and operating in fear. If you really, truly drop everything and follow Jesus, be prepared for some tough times, because Satan will fight like mad to get you to quit and go home. But also get ready to experience true joy and blessings. When we are fully obedient to God, even when what He asks us to do makes no sense at all, we experience real abundance. I can’t explain it fully – you have to experience this for yourself. But the best description I can offer is that complete surrender to God will bring you a joy and peace you have never known before. Even on your worst day with God, you will feel better than you did sitting at home with the devil.
So get up… get going. When Jesus says, “Come with me,” be ready to roll! Don’t look back… look to Heaven! Don’t ask, “Why, LORD?” Ask, “What next?” Make this the day you turn the corner and truly surrender to Jesus. Operate fully in the will of God, with total abandon… and experience complete joy in the LORD. Are you ready to really follow Jesus? When He calls…will you answer?
©2012 Debbie Robus
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