The Ways of JesusSample

Leave your life

The ways of Jesus are so perplexing. Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, decides to handpick 12 men to follow him on an epic journey, a journey that would have worldwide impact and change millions of people. “But just do one small thing,” Jesus says. “Leave your life behind and follow me.” Leave your dreams. Leave your relationships. Leave your jobs. Leave the known. Leave your hometown. Leave your security. Leave your bank account, your comfortable bed, your routine. Leave it all and follow me.

Would you do it? If Jesus picked you 2000 years ago, would you act like you didn’t hear him? Ignore his question? Maybe turn and walk the other direction. The Bible makes it look like the first disciples were robots, and they just dropped their nets before Jesus even finished asking them to. And maybe they did. Maybe they were so ready to be a part of something so much greater than themselves. Maybe they were ignorant teenagers, looking for an adventure and a way out of going to work. But they did it. They left their life as they knew it and followed Jesus.

Even today, Jesus asks us to leave our life behind when we began following him. Does your life look different than when you weren’t following Jesus? Do you spend your money different? Do you invest and look at people differently now? What about your goals in life? Your priorities? It may not look as dramatic as the lives of the disciples, but our lives should look and feel dramatically different post following Jesus. Take a few minutes today and think about the specific ways your life is different, because you follow Jesus.