No Excuses

In Mark 1 Jesus calls his first disciples.  He calls four people.  Now these four are all fisherman with jobs and lives.  But they leave those lives and jobs to follow Jesus.  Take a second to really think about how much they’re giving up there.  They’re losing their job, their lifestyle and leaving their own homes.  All to follow someone after he says just one thing to them.  Now it doesn’t say that they stopped ,thought about it, and followed Jesus, but that “At once they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:18 NIV) and “Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and follow him” (Mark 1:20 NIV).  They left immediately to follow Jesus; they were willing to give up their own lives which they had plans for.  They gave that all up to follow Jesus.  They did it quickly and without hesitation.  Now they could have had insight like in Matthew 16:17, “Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven’”.  I would think that they did but we can still learn from their example here.

Another thing to notice here is that Jesus is not calling scribes or priests who might know the old testament the best and who are the most well educated.  There is plenty of reasons for this.  He is calling fishermen as his first.  The first time something is done it’s setting a precedent.  Everything Jesus did set a precedent for us to follow.  But he’s showing us here that you don’t need to be the most educated, or the smartest to follow and serve him.  That is the precedent he is setting for us.  The precedent that continues even to this day.  And he took these fishermen and made them into the vessels he would use to spread the gospel even after he was gone, when they were no longer fishermen, but fishers of men. 

Now we can apply this to our own lives as well.  We’ve all been called to follow Jesus just as the first disciples were.  Yet so many times we hesitate, because we don’t want to give up things, or we’re too scared.  Take a page from these disciples, they left their lives and their homes to follow.  We should be willing to do what is asked of us as well. Most of the time what we are called to give up isn’t even as much as they gave up.  Not only that, but when we are called to do something, we should be doing it right away.  They didn’t have the full picture of who he was and were willing to follow, we should be able to as well.  Let me qualify all that by saying we should give thought and prayer if we’re going to do something, and if we are called to do something that doesn’t mean you have to give up everything you know like the disciples, they were after all in a different situation than most of us. 

And if you’re stuck thinking that “I’m not qualified” or “Someone else better can do it because I’m not good enough” you should forget those thoughts.  Because Jesus set the precedent that we all, no matter how skilled or unskilled, can serve.  Just like the disciples he equips us for what we are called to do.   You don’t need to be the best to serve.  Moses who is famous for leading the Israelites out of Egypt was a flawed person.  And if you’re saying “I’m not ready yet because I’m too young, not good enough, etc yet” then when do you become ready.  Setting a random age where you say that you know enough now?  We are called to serve, not called to serve in 20 years. 

Don’t be afraid to serve in what way you are called and do it without delay when you are called. 

©Philip Kirkpatrick, 2023