I am always amazed at how you can read a passage of Scripture many times and still have God point out something different to you each time. I have been reading chapter five in Luke which tells the story about a great catch of fish. Jesus was teaching from Peter’s boat and when He finished, He told Peter to take the boat out into the deep to fish. Peter told Him that they had toiled all night fishing but at His word, they would go out again. He was rewarded for his obedience with a tremendous haul of fish.
The Scriptures say that the catch was so great they had to call their partners in another boat to come to help them. They caught so many fish in their nets that the boats nearly sank. Can you imagine how many fish that was? It was enough to nearly sink two boats. The Bibles says that everyone was amazed at what they saw and Peter fell down and worshipped Jesus. He actually asked Jesus to get away from him because he was a sinful man, not worthy of Jesus.
Jesus did not leave Peter; instead, He offered the men an invitation to follow Him. Luke 5:11 says, “And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed Him.” I have read this passage many times before but during today’s reading, it really struck me the timing of their decision to forsake all and follow Him. I think it would be easier to forsake all and follow Jesus if you didn’t have that much to forsake. However, this was not the case in their situation.
These men had just brought in what sounds like was possibly the biggest haul of their lives. In other words, they had just hit the jackpot. It amazed me to think about the fact that without a moment’s hesitation, they docked their boats and walked away from it all. They walked away from a financial bonus. They walked away from a job they had probably been doing all their lives. They walked away from everything that promised worldly security and headed into an unknown future with Jesus.
I have to admit; I am in awe of their faith and courage. I believe that Jesus chose that moment to call them for a reason. He had shown them a glimpse of who He was and then He gave them a chance to decide what mattered the most to them. It may have been hard to walk away from it all, but I am quite sure that in the end they were so glad they chose to forsake all to follow Jesus. Jesus would later say in Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
Jesus doesn’t always ask everyone to physically forsake all and follow Him, but I believe He asks that of each of us spiritually. I believe He wants us to decide to put Him first in every area of our lives. Spiritually speaking, we are to forsake all and follow Him. Absolutely nothing should be more important to us than our relationship with Jesus Christ. This does not mean we are not to take care of the people and responsibilities that He has given us. It simply means that He comes first.
“He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” Matthew 10:37. One of the closest and most important relationships we have are between parents and children. That is a very deep and sacred bond indeed. Jesus was telling us that our relationship with Him should be stronger and more important than our closest relationship on earth. We should come to love and need Him even more than our own parents or children.
I realize that this seems to be asking a lot but please take into consideration the One making this statement. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, left all of heaven to come and pay a debt He didn’t owe. He isn’t making a demand of us that He Himself was not willing to do. He, Himself had in fact forsaken all to come to earth to redeem us. He was willing to pay the ultimate price to have a relationship with us and I personally believe He has earned the right to ask us to demonstrate our complete loyalty and devotion to Him.
Please don’t think He is asking you to give up what matters most to you in order to serve Him; in most cases, it is simply a matter of priority. Jesus wants to be everything we need; He IS everything we need. He wants us to realize that He alone can meet every need we have; true satisfaction and joy can be found in Him and Him alone. When we put Him first and “spiritually” forsake all others, then He is able to bless us with more than we dared to dream or imagine.
When we get our priorities in the correct order, we are right where we need to be. Jesus should be everything to us. Putting Him first is the best decision we will ever make. Then, everything else is a blessing He gives us. Our spouses, children, friends, etc. no longer have to try to fulfill or complete us. They are just wonderful blessings we get to enjoy. When we relieve them of the obligation of trying to be or do something they were never meant to be or do, we are finally able to enjoy the relationships the way God intended for us to.
“Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep nothing back. Nothing that you have not given away will ever really be yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” -C. S. Lewis [Mere Christianity]
Katrina Douglas
