Pastor's Weekly Word

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.” (Matthew 4:19-20)

I cannot get over how quickly the disciples make the decision to follow Jesus. As Matthew tells it, they were right in the middle of fishing when it happened. They dropped everything we are told. They left everything. In a moment’s notice, they completely ended the life they were living to begin a whole new one, no big deal. But it was a big deal. This was a huge deal. I try to think about what it would take for any one of us today to do that, to forego our obligations, end our relationships, quit our jobs and drop everything. People would think we had lost it. And yet, that is exactly what the disciples did. What did Jesus say to them?

The late preacher Fred Craddock once shared a conversation he had following one of his sermons. He was standing in the church at the conclusion of the service when a young lady ran up to him almost shaking with excitement. “I know what I am going to do!” she said. “I was going to go to graduate school, but I’m going to wait and be a missionary first. What you said in your sermon changed my mind. That’s what I’m going to do.” Craddock looked at her parents who were standing behind her with an awkward expression of trepidation. “What did I say?” Craddock thought to himself. “I’m not sure what I said.”

It is quite a mysterious and powerful thing when the good news of Jesus Christ hits us. When it does, our hearts are transformed, our lives are changed, and sometimes, we drop everything because we simply can’t sit still any longer.