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Wednesday December 4 - Follow me!
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
Matthew 4:19
“Follow me,” Jesus says. Have you heard this invitation from our loving Saviour? If so, when? For me, being raised in a Christian home, I’ve always believed in Jesus. My childlike faith was made stronger and deeper in my twenties, when I experienced some hardships and failed dreams, and I learned to look to God for affirmation, direction and hope. I was willing to commit myself to living in God’s ways, turning from other pursuits as I followed Jesus. I’ve found that life with God is far more fulfilling than life without him.
Jesus welcomed these fishermen to a new calling, that of ‘fishing for people’. They would ‘do life’ with him, being four of the twelve disciples, living without an assured income while moving from place to place. If they answered Jesus’ call they would leave their comfortable lives, with their family connections and places to call their own. Their nets would now catch not fish, but people, whom when they were caught would be given the gift of eternal life. Not a bad consequence of that net wrapping round them, if you ask me!
How about you? How has Jesus called you into a life of service and of sharing his message? You might want to spend some time considering when he issued this invitation to you, and how you responded.
Jesus, Master Fisher, help me to fish for people, to give you glory. Help me to commit my all to you. Amen.
Thursday December 5 - All for God
Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Matthew 4:21-22
Jesus made this call to the four fishermen, and look at how they obeyed instantly, leaving their nets and, in the case of the brothers, their father. They were leaving the family business, which in that culture, where community and family were valued highly, would have been a big deal. Note too that Jesus didn’t command them to drop everything and come – he invited them... even as he invites you and me to follow him.
We of course don’t have to be in so-called ‘Christian work’ to follow him – after all, any work, when we do it for the glory of God, is Christian work! And there’s no hierarchy of jobs either; one is not better than another in God’s eyes. Whether teaching, or plumbing, or making business deals, and so on... God loves how we work for him, when we commit to following him and acting in a godly way. And of course paid employment may only be a slice of our life with God, or perhaps not at all. We have such freedom in following him.
How can you follow God today and this week? Are there things, whether work or voluntary pursuits, that you feel called to and could consider, with God, how to pursue? Know that he loves you, and how you share his love and life.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
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Loving God, thank you for inviting me to follow you. Help me to commit myself in all my ways – my thoughts and actions – to you. Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY