Leaving Everything!
Key Verse: Luke 5:11
And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.
Additional Reading: Luke 5:1-11
I hope you read the ‘Additional Reading’ section for today.
If so, you got a glimpse of Peter’s first reaction when, after fishing all night and catching nothing, one word from Jesus and their nets were full! Peter fell on his knees before Jesus and said: “Oh, Lord, please leave me – I’m such a sinful man”. This is the attitude that God waits for in all of us: humility and open confession of who we are without Jesus. Any pride we have must be destroyed to be acceptable to God. Proverbs 6:16 is blunt: “God… hates haughty eyes (prideful).
In James 4:6, we see that God doesn’t just hate pride, He will take steps “opposing pride”. This is a great moment to ask yourself, as honestly as you can about your pride (my dad used to preach: “using judgement day honesty”).
Do you work hard to ‘look’ good, even going so far as lying to people so you look good? Do you work hard for God for the right reasons… to glorify Him, or do you do what you do to glorify you? If you ask God to help you see and deal with your pride, He will start to work on it. If you are a Christ-follower, and yet ignore this issue of pride, the Holy Spirit will not stop His work on you until you can humble yourself and admit your need of God. I will give my testimony that God had to show me areas of pride that I had to admit and work on!
Going back to Peter, after his first reaction to the miracle that Jesus performed, Peter made a bold decision, he left everything and followed Jesus. How would these disciples make money? How would they provide for their families? Peter knew he was a terrible sinner; how would he ever be good enough to be a disciple of Jesus? All these questions still pop up in our minds when we consider following Jesus. Jesus’s answer to Peter is basically the same answer He will give to us: “I will make you”. What a thought, Jesus will make us into what we need to be… and want to be. Jesus has the power to change our minds, our attitudes, and our actions in order to be better people. He will make us great spouses in our marriages, He will make us great parents to our children. He will make us great workers for our employers. He will make us fruitful Christ-followers to build His Kingdom. All this comes to those who humble themselves and follow Jesus.
However, if we are going to have all that Jesus has to offer to us, we must give Him all of us! Peter left everything! God is asking us to leave everything we have known for doing life and follow His model for doing life. If we will, then we will see our lives become more like Jesus! We must leave all we think we know about being good spouses and be the spouses He will guide us to be. We must leave what we think makes good parenting and follow what Jesus says will make us good parents. At home and at work, we must be willing to let God ‘mess’ with it all and make us “new” in all ways. Second Corinthians 5:17 reminds us, “The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
Father, as you guide me into new thinking of ways to do life, I will leave ‘all’ and follow you. In Jesus’s Name, amen.