"One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers - Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew - throwing their net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, "Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!" And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little farther up the shore he saw two brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called to them to come, too. They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind." Matthew 4:18-21 NLT
I am reading a book called, Crazy Love by Francis Chan. In chapter four, the author suggests that the reader stop reading his book and read the gospels. I took him up on the challenge. I am not a novice to the Bible, and I have read the gospels quite a bit throughout my life, but not like this. As I was reading, the above passage jumped out at me. So much so that I stopped reading there and went back over it. Those three verses have been prodding me for the last few days. Matthew writes, when Jesus called both sets of brothers to follow him, they did so at once. They didn't analyze Jesus' request they just obeyed. When was the last time I did that?
I want to obey God; however, wanting to and actually doing it are two very different things. I think its interesting that I expect immediate obedience from my children and yet I don't give the same courtesy to my heavenly Father. Sobering thought. The bible is very clear on the relationship between love and obedience. If I say that I love God, then obedience should follow as a outgrowth of that. Sadly, I can say that I am not as quick to obey my Father God as my children are to obey me. I'm going to change that.
