Abandon September 30, 2013
Empty nets lying by thewater’s edge tell the rest of the story of when the Lord called Peter. Whatdoes it mean to follow Jesus? It means reckless abandon, relinquishingeverything you once called yours. Jesus’ promise to make Peter a “fisher ofmen” encodes the basic purpose of Christianity—to help people.
For Peter, it all beganwith a simple invitation: “Follow me.” For every Christian, it is the samedecision. What it means to follow Jesus is to bet your life that Jesus told thetruth, that He is worth more than anything else, and that He is Lord of all.And if all that is true, then it only makes sense to follow Him with recklessabandon. As Bonhoeffer famously said: “When Christ calls a man, he bids himcome and die. It may be a death like the first disciples who had to leave homeand work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leavethe monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death everytime—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at this call.”
This should not surpriseus. Jesus’ death cost Him everything; why wouldn’t following Him costs useverything in return? A half-hearted discipleship is worthless.
You might be tempted tothink, “I’ve grown and changed quite a bit. I think I’ll settle down abit, hit a nice spiritual routine, find a level of spirituality that keeps mecomfortable, call it ‘faithfulness.’” But that isn’t what it means tofollow Jesus. Not as Simon’s example defines it. Not by a mile.
What is keeping you backfrom full throttle pursuit of God? Time wasters? Fear? Distractions? Lack ofdiscipline? Friends, if we are feeling lethargic in our following of Jesus, theproblem isn’t in Jesus. The problem isn’t even the circumstances He has put usin. The problem is something else, perhaps even something quite benign initself; but it prevents us from going after Jesus with all our heart. Simonwould never have become the rock if he kept holding on to his nets.
Following Jesus cost Peter everything. Yet Peter’s lifestory shows that it’s only the person who loses his life for the sake of thegospel that truly finds it. So what are you waiting for?