And as He
walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting ga
net into the sea; for they were fisherman. Then Jesus said to them,
"Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." They
immediately left their nets and followed Him. Mark 1:16-18 NKJV
Picture
yourself in the middle of a typical daily project. Maybe you are attacking
"Mount Washmore." Or maybe you are entering number 356 of information
forms into a database. You might be organizing a field trip for your child's
class or preparing someone's taxes.
Jesus
suddenly shows up and says, "Follow Me."
What
would you say?
"Ah,
Jesus, I have this tax form to finish."
"Let
me just finish folding this underwear."
"I've
got one more call to make."
"Leave
this data entry? Yeah baby!"
Whatever
your reaction, it would require flexibility.
The
fishermen were in the midst of their daily work, which was probably grueling.
Then this man tells them essentially that He has a better option. What did they
do? They immediately dropped everything to find out more.
Now, I'm
not suggesting that you drop everything on every whim. God delights in
self-control and discipline too. However, this was the Son of God telling them
to forget about today's task and come discover something more important.
I wonder
how many of us would really drop everything to take advantage of such an
opportunity? I can't say that I always would. I remember one time we had some
visitors from out of town and due to various things, our home was not
company-ready. While we spent time with them elsewhere, we were not able to be
as flexible as we possibly could have been, because of being bogged down by
other needs and responsibilities. A few weeks later though, we were able to
host an overnight guest for several days. Some things had changed and we were
able to get our home in better order.
Getting,
and being, even a bit more organized, can help us say "yes" more
often to those sudden, sometimes delightful, opportunities to go or do
something out of the ordinary. Then we aren't a slave to the house or feel like
we'd be so behind when we got back that it would steal the joy from the
impetuous visit or ministry opportunity.
You owe
it to yourself, if no one else, to live in a bit more organized fashion so that
you can immediately follow Christ's invitation to enjoy an opportunity you may
not have planned on.