Come, Follow Me

Obedience is something that I struggle with in all areas of my life. Whether it is the way I eat, what I say or anything else. When it comes to being obedient to God, I have not been entirely obedient to Him a day of my life. I do things that are selfish for me or for other people putting myself, or them, first before God. I can say with certainty, that I’m not alone in this struggle. We all struggle with putting God first at all times.

I also struggle when it comes to following Christ without questioning His will at times. There are times that I feel God calling me to do something or say something, but for one reason or another, I do not act on that feeling. I get in my car and say “oh, I should have helped that elderly person with their groceries” or “I should have asked that person if I could pray for them right then and there”. When Jesus calls us to come and follow, we need to listen at all times, for it is His understanding and not our own.

In Matthew Chapter 4, Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee. He sees two brothers that are fishing on the Sea. These brothers are Peter and Andrew, and Jesus in verse 19 calls out to them “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” And it is written that at once they left their nets and followed him.

This is amazing to me. Come, follow me and they do! They drop it all and go follow the Lord. What an amazing display of obedience by these two men! There are two things amazing about this story. One is that these men listened to the Lord the first time and followed. God called and they acted. How many times does it take God to call us to get following and in action? The second thing is that the Lord of the universe, God on earth, approaches these two men and just talks to them as friends. He speaks their language and right at their level of understanding. Jesus makes a reference, to these fishermen, about making them fishers of men. Jesus is calling us to do the same thing. First, to come, follow me. And second, to go make disciples of all nations. Make fishers of men. Make believers of Christ. Obeyers of God. Whatever way you want to phrase it, Jesus wants us to do it. I hope that through our days and the conversations we have with people, that we can be obedient to show & ask the people around us to come and follow Jesus Christ through our words and actions.