FOLLOW ME
FOLLOW HIM
Matthew 4:18-22 says “And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”
In these scriptures, we see Jesus calling Peter and Andrew (who were brothers), and James and John (who were also brothers.) Peter and Andrew were fishing. James and John were mending their nets. Fishing was their occupation. How they fed their families. How they were able to live their daily lives. Jesus tells them to “Follow Me.” The verses tell us that both sets of brothers immediately followed Him. We know that in Luke 4:38-39, that Peter had a mother-in-law, meaning that he was married. Jesus heals her when she is sick. We are not told if Peter’s brother, Andrew was married. We see that James and John were working with their father. Did they know where they were going? No. Did they know what they were going to be doing? No. Did they rely on Jesus to take care of them and their families? Yes. Jesus tells them that He “will make you fishers of men.” Do you think they totally understood what that meant? No. But, the point is that they trusted Jesus, so much that they did what He asked of them. Jesus uses the term “fishers of men,” because, like in a lot of His ministry, Jesus used terms the people would understand.
Would we be able to leave our families, leave our worldly occupation, leave immediately to follow our Lord? Can we leave the things in the world that pull us to them, instead of doing what God needs and wants us to do? We want to say yes. But would we? What pulls us away from meeting with fellow Christians to worship service? What pulls us away from serving others? Who, in the world, convinces us that we need to work harder and longer at our job? Who convinces us to take that one more drink, because it is just one more? Who or what in the world convinces us that we are not important or needed in this world and the best thing is to commit suicide? Or who or what causes us to be so depressed that we just loose interest in everything and fall into that deep abyss of feeling like you are not worth any love. This causes us to pull inwardly and loose interest in anything in the world, or more importantly, in service to the Lord? Can we do away with these obstacles and immediately follow Jesus and be a servant for Him?
We have to put all these worldly things away and remember who is the most important and only One we can trust. Psalm 118:8 says “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” We have to follow His words and be so intrenched in His word, the Bible, that we immediately know what we need to do in any situation, always putting Him first. Serve even when you don’t feel like it. Turn our backs on things in this world that lead us away from God. Stop listening to those “voices” inside our heads that tell us we are of no value to anyone, including being a follower of Jesus and in our service for Him.
We have to step out in faith, because God has created us in His image, loved us so much that He gave His only Son on the horrific cross for us. We have been created for a purpose, even when we cannot see that. We have to turn our backs on the things of this world and follow Him. It is hard to see what purpose we have been created for. Maybe you are older and you still don’t see your God given purpose. I feel no matter what age we are that we have a God given purpose. Sometimes, even having many different purposes throughout our life on this earth. Someone said, “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.” We are told in Philippians 1:5-6 “…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” If we trust and continue to serve Him in obedience, He will help us to realize our purpose (or purposes) and He will help us to fulfil them! Also, in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” and in verse 19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” And verses that were my mother’s favorite, Ephesians 2:20-21 “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.” Neither God’s love nor His power is limited by human imagination or understanding.
The world, our family, may think we are crazy. We may make them mad and they turn against us. We know what God wants us to do. It doesn’t make sense and we don’t know how to do it. But we have to have faith and trust in Him. Well, when do we know that it is time to immediately follow Him, to fulfill one of our purposes for Him? Ask yourself, is it backed up by God’s word-will it make us more like Jesus-will it strengthen our relationship to God-is it in service to God or to ourselves? Many years ago, there was a man in southern Missouri, who thought God had actually talked to him for the purpose of killing himself. He had his body put in a freezer and then after a certain number of years he was to be thawed out and come back to life. My husband and I drove by and saw the freezer truck he was supposedly frozen in. I don’t know why he had such a crazy idea or what god he was following, but guess what! After that certain number of years, he was thawed and was still dead. They buried him. Doing that, had no Bible verses backing up this act. Was this act for God’s glory or his? I am sure when he originally killed himself, he had a rude “awakening” that he was not following the one and only God, don’t you?
So, what am I saying? God does not directly talk to us today. But He does put in our path ways that we can serve our purpose. I was checking out in the grocery line one day behind a woman buying some baby items. She ended up not having enough money to pay for everything. I helped her pay for what she needed for her baby. I could have ignored that “pushing” from God. But it was for His glory not mine. It was a way I could serve, be a light for Him and be an example of immediately being a follower of His.
One of the points of the verses we started with is that we are to put God first. If we do that-keep our focus on Him-follow and trust Him even when it doesn’t make sense-follow His lead-follow His word in obedience-do all for His glory-immediately rise up and serve Him; then the path and purpose we are living for will be exemplified in our lives.
Follow Him in all you do and think! And remember, Joshua 1:9 says “…Be strong of good courage; do not be afraid nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” What an amazing promise through the ages! Trust in God and immediately follow Him!
(I am taking a little break, for about a month, to six weeks. My dad is moving in with me on May 26th. This will be a huge change for him and for me. I need to focus on getting him settled and into some type of schedule. Before Thanksgiving last year, I was stressed and worried about this decision. Instead of giving this decision to God, I tried to “fix it” myself. But that was not working for my benefit or my dads. I then gave it and trusted it, to God and His plans for me and my dad. I immediately found peace. I know that if God leads me to it, He will lead me through it. Things have “fallen into place” and we feel this is the best option for my dad at this time. Say some prayers for him and me that we can follow this new path, God has given us. To Him be the glory!)
Till next time!
Keela