Walking With JesusSample

Stepping into the unknown

A little further down the road, Jesus sees brothers James and John. They’d been fishing with their father Zebedee and are repairing their nets. After all, a damaged net would not catch fish. ‘Come,’ Jesus tells them, ‘Follow me.' And they leave their nets and their father behind and immediately follow Jesus. They left everything they knew to step into an unknown future.

It's the same step of faith we make when we decide to follow Jesus. Once we do, we start living not under our own strength, but through Christ and all that He provides. Jesus said, ‘I will make you fishers of men.' But what would these men use as their nets? We know that Jesus was a teacher with authority (Mark 1:22). Whoever heard Him were amazed, but Jesus was more than just a teacher. Matthew Henry comments that Jesus taught ‘as one who knew the mind of God and was commissioned to declare it.' Simon and Andrew, James and John were given nets woven from the strands of Jesus’ teaching. They sat and listened to Him, soaking in His Word before they went out, before they became His hands and feet. Jesus’ expectation was for His disciples to grow in faith, even as they walked with Him, as they saw Him perform miracles and wonders.

‘Come, follow me,’ is not a once off but a lifelong commitment to daily follow Jesus and all He calls us to do, in faith. To go from strength to strength for His glory, knowing He is the source of truth and of life.

Written by CHRIS PARFOOT