“I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus,
No turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, still I will follow..."
In pre-school, I was introduced to Jesus. To me, He was so much more than a
kind looking man on my coloring page. Even then, I knew there was something
extraordinary about the fact that the God of the Universe desired to have a
relationship with me. Skeptics might say
that I was far too young to understand, and that there was no way I could fully
grasp the weighty and overwhelming truths about sin, the cross, the Trinity,
and forgiveness. Perhaps I didn’t on the same level that a twelve-year-old, or
twenty-year-old would, but God’s love has so many depths and layers. Sticking
my toes into the ocean of His love didn’t make my relationship with Him any
less real to me than to all the adults diving into the ocean far out over their heads!
To me, it was undeniable. I felt His presence. As I flipped through the pages
of my illustrated Beginners Bible, I
knew that God was real. He made me, He loved me, and He desired for me to follow
Him. I sucked up every Bible Story like a yummy chocolate milkshake, slurping
through my straw of wonder and delight. At a very young age I knew that I was
loved and that I had a purpose. I was so aware of God’s smile as I finger
painted, bit into an apple, and sang Sunday School songs. As I look back at the
beautiful beginnings of my faith, I am in awe of God’s grace. How sweet,
compassionate, and mind-blowing is the fact that God would reveal Himself to a little child?! How can it
be that the King of the Universe would stoop down to my puny little
three-year-old level and stretch out His arms, in a way that captured my
heart?!
I am utterly floored by His grace! The verse, “You did not choose me, but I
chose you,” {John 15:16} couldn’t be more true in my life. That was the
beginning of my testimony! I didn’t ask to be born. I didn’t ask to breathe. I
didn’t ask to have an encounter with God’s love at such a young age. I did
nothing to deserve any of His goodness. Yet, my life has been drenched with it.
I am seriously sopping wet and totally soggy from the crazy downpours of God’s
goodness raining down on my life!
It was all God’s grace.
“I revealed myself to those who did not
ask for me.” {Isaiah 65:1}
As I grew older, God continued to reveal Himself to me in deeper, wider, and
spectacularly vast ways. Just like a bottomless ocean that can never be fully
exhausted; God’s character of love and His pure nature of mind-blowing goodness
is the same endless adventure! I’ll be in heaven for ten million years and never exhaust the exploration of who He
is. I am in a constant state of learning! Every day, He is pulling back the
veil from my heart, and revealing more and more!
Dropping My Nets to Follow Him
Everyone’s story with God has a beginning. Now
that I’ve shared a little bit of mine with you, let’s look at the beginning of
someone else’s history with Jesus - His disciples. Specifically, Peter and
Andrew.
Peter and Andrew grew up playing on the shores of Galilee. Their dad was most
likely a fisherman and they had been raised on the water. I can only imagine
how much fun they must’ve had; splashing, fishing, and wading in the waters as
little tykes, then growing up with the understanding that they would someday
inherit the family fishing business.
One day Jesus approached them and said, “Come follow me. And I will make you
fishers of men.” {Matthew 4:18}
They immediately dropped their nets and followed Him. {Matthew 4:20}
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve always found this passage a little bit
strange! I mean, how socially awkward is this scene?
Think about it. The brothers are out fishing, minding their own business, when
suddenly Jesus offers them a crazy line. “I know you like to fish, so let’s go
fish for men. Drop everything and follow me. Leave your homes, your families,
and everything you’ve ever known. Let’s go!”
I’ve always been puzzled by this passage. Like, what was it in Jesus' voice that made them want to follow Him? Was
there so much passion in His voice that drew them? Was His presence so powerful
and overwhelming as they suddenly had the revelation that the Savior of the
world was standing before them, and they would do anything to be a part of what
He offered?
Maybe some of these thoughts could be true, but they don’t seem very likely. We
know that Andrew and Peter didn’t know that Jesus was God, because that wasn’t
revealed until later. It’s hard for me to imagine this scenario playing out in
my head, and to understand why they
would’ve followed Him.
There are a lot of passages in scripture that leave me stumped. Many of the
things Jesus said and the actions He took seemed so bizarre and out of place!
Why is it so hard for me to wrap my brain around some of these things?
Often times, I find that my problem is this: I’m using an Americanized, Western
Culture, Twenty-First Century mindset to read and interpret scripture,
rather than mentally traveling back in time, and learning about the Hebraic
culture that Jesus lived in. Believe it or not,the majority of things that
Jesus spoke were not strange or
awkward to the Jews in Galilee! Sure they were challenging, deep, and clearly from Heaven, but for the most part the Jews were not scratching their heads the same way that we are when we read
the Words in Red. Why? Because they understood the context.
As an American church, it is really easy to take things out of context. Instead
of immersing ourselves in the rich history and Biblical study of what was
happening culturally during the time Christ was on earth, we tend to glance at
these verses and think, “Okay, so how does this fit into the framework of my life?”
I have been guilty of taking the beautiful nature of God and the amazing
stories of the Gospels, and slicing them apart with my American mindset cookie-cutter.
I try to find what fits with my life,
and toss out everything that doesn’t.
But that never works! It’s like trying to eat a peanut-butter and jelly
sandwich by cutting off the crust, scraping off the peanut butter, and then
tossing out the jelly. That kind of a “sandwich” might “work” for you, but
honestly, you’re not eating a traditional sandwich anymore. You’re only eating
a piece of bread with nothing in it! When God dreamed up the “peanut butter and
jelly sandwich” of His Word, He wanted us to eat all of it, and enjoy the richness of His invention! Not just the
soggy leftovers that remain after we tear it apart.
Anyway, with all of this peanut butter and jelly talk, what I’m simply trying to
say is: Lord, renew my mind! I want to think the way You do! You are the Creator and Author of Your Word, and I long to be transformed by it! Help me to remove the yucky leaven (wrong thinking patterns) that hinder what You desire to do in my life.
Let’s return to Peter, Andrew and Jesus by the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus said,
“Come follow me!” it was not strange at all. In fact, it was so culturally
relevant that you’re going to be shocked by how normal this was in Galilee!
Teachers were saying phrases similar to this all of the time. Here’s why…
The Education System in Galilee was totally different than what ours is today.
I don’t have time to go into vast detail, but their education was based on
learning foundational scriptures, studying and memorizing the Torah (the first
5 books of the Bible), and learning a trade. Then if they were really
exceptional and outstanding students, they had the opportunity to seek
permission to study under a Rabbi. If the Rabbi approved of them and wanted to
be their teacher, the students left their homes, their families, and everything
they knew; to go eat with, live with, and travel with their Rabbi. Instead of
earning a degree in a college classroom, the talmid (which means disciple, or
student) was to emulate, copy, and become exactly like their teacher, in hopes of passing on everything they learned
to their own students someday!
So when Jesus said, “Follow me,” Jesus was offering Andrew and Peter an
invitation to study in His real-life, hands on, missionary school!
At this time, Jesus already had a reputation of being “one who teaches with
authority.” He was respected, and given the title “Rabbi.” For Andrew and
Peter, it was an honor to be given this opportunity! Of course they would drop their nets and leave everything! Studying
under a Rabbi as wise as this one would be hard to turn down! (Little did they
know their Rabbi was also God! Woah,
plot twist!)
Can you imagine? All of the young men who chose to follow Jesus and become His talmid had no idea of the fullness of
what they had said "yes" to. They simply thought that they were furthering their “religious
education”. When Jesus started performing miracles, healing the blind, and
walking on water they must’ve thought, “What have we gotten ourselves into?!
Who IS this Man?” It was like nothing no one had ever seen before in the
“religious community.”
With this fresh understanding about what life was like for the Jews, let’s
return to this passage. Imagine that it’s you,
hanging out by the seashore, casting your fishing nets, hoping for a good
catch. Jesus arrives on the scene and He invites you to come and study under
Him. You squeal with delight! You can’t believe it! You’ve been offered an
opportunity to study under a wise man in the field you are most interested in
and passionate about! Following Jesus will be like the ultimate internship.
An Incomparable Invitation…Will You Follow?
As a little girl, I thought I knew what it meant to follow Jesus. Ptsh, last week I thought I knew what it meant
to follow Jesus. But line upon line and precept upon precept, God keeps
teaching me more and more about what it means to be His talmid (disciple.)
The Creator of the Universe, the Master and CEO of everything in existence, has
invited us to be His students. He has
called us to drop our nets, abandon our agendas, and surrender everything.
When we follow Him, we eat with Him, live with Him, travel with Him, and rest
with Him. We go wherever He goes and say whatever He says. Our whole goal and
purpose as a student is to emulate and become exactly like our Teacher.
“Wait, what?” I hear you ask, “Become exactly
like Jesus? That’s impossible, isn’t it? I mean, nobody’s perfect!”
No, we’re not perfect. But we were created in the image of God, remember? God’s
original plan with the Garden of Eden was to have an earth full of students who
looked like Him, talked like Him, and loved like Him. When sin messed
everything up, Jesus had to come and restore it all through the cross. But now
as New Creations in Christ, everything has changed. Once again, purity and
holiness has been restored so that we can be like Jesus! In fact, the Bible
says that we are predestined to be conformed into His image! {Romans 8:29}
How amazing is that?! He wants to teach us everything He knows, and He daily
gives us the grace to be transformed from “glory to glory.”
{2 Corinthians 3:18}
In the same way that a teacher has a detailed curriculum for their students,
God has a definite plan for your life. There are certain truths, concepts, and
heavenly realities that Jesus, Father, and Holy Spirit have purposed to teach
you! Just like advancing through the grades, in God’s school we go from one
level, to the next, to the next. The older you get and the deeper you grow in
your walk with Christ, more challenges arise and “tests” occur. But tests and
trials are never to destroy you, they are simply to evaluate where you are at,
then help you master whatever it is that you’re struggling with! If you battle
fear, God wants to help you overcome that! If you have a problem with worrying,
or struggle with anger, unforgiveness, or have a bad self-image, your Teacher
is going to help you! Jesus desires to continually reveal the heart of the
Father to you, expose and erase any lies that you’ve been believing, overwhelm
you with His love, and transform your mind to think like His, until you are
fully conformed into the image of Christ!
So, if God has the curriculum of my life entirely planned out and if He has certain
truths, areas, and spiritual terrain that He wants me to travel, wouldn’t it be
a lot easier if I surrender my own plans and just go with His?!
A good student, a true talmid, drops their nets, lifts up their hands and
says, “I’m yours. I’m following you. It doesn’t matter where we go, or where you
lead, I am in this for the long run. I’m determined to learn everything that you long to teach me. I know that your heart is for me to become like you, so here
I am! I’m like clay. I want to be moldable and pliable in your hands. Teach
me!”
God’s classroom is in session our entire lives. He never stops teaching, and we
never stop learning. His love is like a blissfully exciting school that I never want to graduate from!
May the endless adventure and glorious unfolding of knowing God, continue in all of our lives!