Matthew 4:12-22

Be Still: Lord, still my heart in your presence today. Open my eyes to see you afresh and my ears to hear you speaking through your Word. Amen

Read: Matthew 4:12-22 

‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ At once they left their nets and followed him. (v19-20)

Encounter: Jesus calls ordinary people to follow him, like you and me. The question he asks is never ‘Are you qualified’ but always, ‘Are you willing?’ 

There is something beautifully simple and confronting about this call of Jesus. He walks up to a group of ordinary fishermen at work, and says ‘Come, follow me.’ No elaborate speech. No convincing. No five year plan. Just an invitation. And yet, ‘at once they left their nets and followed him.’ These fishermen walked away from their life, their livelihood, their identity. Not because they fully understood the journey ahead, but because they were captivated by the One calling them.

We aren’t called to follow Jesus because we have all the answers. We’re called to follow because he wants to be close to us and his presence is worth more than certainty. Jesus himself is always enough - he is our great reward. Following Jesus is about that holy pull - the wonder that reaches your heart before your head can talk you out of it. Awe before understanding. Surrender before clarity. He will always call ordinary people to follow him. We don't have to have the answers and ‘the plan’ - he has that. Our job is to let go of our nets, let go of control, to pursue proximity to Jesus and let the wonder of him draw us closer each day. When awe is alive in us, obedience is always a joy, never a burden. 

Apply: Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what you are holding too tightly - the ‘nets’ of control, comfort, predictability, or the need for answers before obedience. Is there something you’re clinging to that is stopping you from fully following Jesus?

Ask the Holy Spirit for wonder to be restored where you’ve become stuck in over-planning or self-reliance. Pray that awe, not certainty, would be what propels your obedience. Where are we asking for clarity when Jesus is asking for proximity?

Devote: Jesus, I pray you would restore awe and wonder in me today. Help me let go of the things I hold too tightly, knowing that following you is worth any cost.