Luke 5- Would We Leave Everything to Follow God?

So picture this. Simon, James, and John had been fishing all night. Fishing was their job; not just a hobby. They knew fishing very well. But they had been out fishing all night and had caught absolutely nothing. Then Jesus came by and and hung out on the boat and told them to put their nets down for a catch. I don’t know about you, but I would have been tempted to say something like, “Um, Jesus, in case you didn’t realize, that’s exactly what I tried to do all night long. Didn’t work out so well.” And that is basically what Simon said. But he did it, because Jesus told him to—and they caught so many fish that the nets were breaking, and when they got the fish onto the boats, both boats were so full they started to sink. When God decides to do something, it doesn’t matter how impossible or illogical or downright weird it seems—he can do it and do it above and beyond what anyone ever would have expected. When God does something, he does it way better than anything we ever could have done on our own.

Twice in this chapter, something happens that absolutely amazes and frightens me. The first time was right after the fishing incident; Luke says that James, John, and Simon Peter “left everything and followed him.” Later in the chapter, Jesus saw a tax collector, Levi, sitting there in his tax booth. He simply told Levi, "Follow me." And Luke says, "And leaving everything, he rose and followed him." Wow. You know, these guys had normal, everyday lives. They had jobs, they had plans, they had dreams—just like we do. But when Jesus told them to follow him, what did they do? They left it all and followed him. This is so amazing, and scary, to me. I cannot help but ask myself—and have been asking myself this question for a few weeks now—if Jesus said “Follow me,” would I be willing to leave the way of life I’ve known for so long, my plans, my comfort zone, and follow him? I’d like to say yes, but here’s the honest answer: I hope I would, I think I would, but it wouldn’t be easy. The thought of leaving it all is a scary prospect, especially when I know what I know about God and his plans—his plans are wonderful, but they usually involve doing things and living in ways that other people will think are crazy. Following God means sacrificing self and serving others. It means drastically changing your life, the way you interact with people, the way you view the world. Awesome stuff, but a huge shift from what most people are used to. Deep down, I want to leave it all and follow him, but the unpredictability frightens me a bit.

Tomorrow I'm going to post about some things that I feel like God has been telling me over the past couple of weeks in what seems like a hundred different ways- through this study, other books I've been reading, conversations I've had, sermons I've heard, songs I've sung, movies I've watched. I don't know what is going to happen, but I have a feeling some big things are about to change. It's exciting and it's scary. Tune in tomorrow for more...