Can you imagine leaving everything? Your job, your family, your friends--everything. Can you imagine walking away from your life to gain a new one? Can you imagine what it would look like for God to change your life so drastically that you do these things for Him?
In Luke chapter 5 Jesus is teaching on the lake of Gennesaret. He gets into Simon's (who later becomes Peter) boat and tells him to push it out a little into the water. As He finishes, this is what happens: "4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, 'Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.' 5 'Master,'Simon replied, 'we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.'" (Luke 5:4-5, NLT).
In this passage, Simon is doubting Jesus. Jesus has told him to do something that didn't quite make sense at the time. Simon had been fishing all night and did not catch anything. In addition to this, fishing was his job. He had probably fished his entire life. He knows that his chances of catching something were slim--or, at least he thought he did. The problem is that He's with Jesus. When you are with Jesus, things change. Impossible things happen. Things are different.
"6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. 8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, 'Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.'9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, 'Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!'" (Luke 5:6-10, NLT).
Simon doesn't know everything. He didn't know what Jesus was telling him to do actually did make sense because he didn't have the vision to see it. Not the way God did. Once he has this experience with God in the flesh, everything changes. I believe he realizes how sinful, dirty, and inadequate he is in the presence of Jesus. He falls to his knees and begs God to leave him. He knows who he is. But Jesus doesn't do that--He loves Simon. Instead, at this act of repentance, Jesus Christ gives Simon an opportunity to follow Him.
This experience isn't just for Simon. This also happens to us a lot. We could go on a mission trip, to a camp, church service, or somewhere that interrupts our daily lives and encounter the God of all creation. When this happens, He calls us to something greater. For Peter, it was to bring people to Jesus. To "fish for people." For us it could be the same thing, or something else that requires us to put our faith in God.
"11 And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus." (Luke 5:11, NLT).
This is extremely important. Actually, I believe this is the most important part aside from experiencing God. The text literally says that "they left everything and followed Jesus." This is what so many of us miss. When we go home, go back to work, and go back to school, often times we do not leave everything and follow Him. When we get out of the boat, we go back to what we were doing before we got in. But even later on in verse 28 it says that when Matthew was called, he left everything and followed Him--just like Simon and the others that were with him. There seems to be a pattern here. When the disciples were called to follow Jesus Christ, they did not continue to live the way they had been living before. There was a radical change. They left everything behind and followed Him.
Now, I am not saying that we must sell all that we own or move to a third world country; although that may be the case for some of us. However, for application in our everyday lives, I am saying that something should look different after Jesus has called us to a higher purpose. We need to do what He asks us to do, not forget about it and fall back into our routines. Maybe it is about giving something up. But maybe it is something like restoring a relationship. Perhaps looks like loving someone who doesn't necessarily deserve it. But maybe it is simply surrendering all of ourselves to the God who loves and desires us. Submitting our entire lives to Jesus Christ. He might not be calling us to physically leave everything, but shouldn't we be willing to? What if He did ask us to give our lives up--would we leave everything, rise up, and follow Him?
