Thursday, June 11, 2015

What are You Willing to Leave Behind to Follow God?

As Jesus called His first disciples to follow Him, many of them were fishermen. They had boats and nets to maintain. They had families to support. They were business men with a mind to manage businesses. But when Jesus called, something changed in their hearts. “They immediately left their nets and followed Him.” (Matthew 4.20) Imagine what courage it must have required for them to leave their livelihood behind to follow Jesus. Imagine what courage it must have required for men who knew their business, to follow Jesus into an unknown future. And now imagine they made no excuses. They requested no delays. They immediately followed Him.

Each of us has something that keeps us from totally and unconditionally following Jesus. For some it is a job. For others it might be fear of the unknown, but each of us is called to follow Him. Each of us is called by God to join Him in the important work of spreading the Gospel to others. The time has come to bravely drop our defenses and follow Him. The time has come be courageous in the possibility of the unknown, and trust that God will take care of our needs. It won’t be until we are free from what keeps us back, that we can follow Jesus.


What are you willing to leave behind to follow God? Once you answer that question, only one thing remains. Now put it aside and start following. Once the disciples chose to follow, great things began to happen. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. (Matthew 4.23) Just remember one thing.....these great things could only happen when they left everything and finally followed.

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