relationships (Mark 1:16-28) Our Response

(Mark 1:16-28)

16 As He was going along the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will have you become fishers of people.” 18 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 19 And going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and went away to follow Him.

21 They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach. 22 And they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 saying, “What business do You have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are: the Holy One of God!” 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26 After throwing him into convulsions and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” 28 Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding region of Galilee.

TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:

A quick point-out to the fact that Satan and his demons know who God is, and can recognize Him.  They simply fear and HATE the Lord God, and so, they do whatever they can to keep people away from Him.  They will take the beautiful things of God and then distort, deceive, divide and destroy.  They want everyone to fear and hate God as much as they do, because this will prevent people from recognizing God and His love, and prevent them from responding to His calling.  Now, how do we respond?

The Lord already knows who is going to become a believer and follow Him.  And because He is love, and desires that all come to know Him personally, He gives everyone fair opportunity to make this decision.  Also, because He is love, He will never force anyone to love Him back, or be obedient.  So when the Lord calls us, do we respond as quickly as these fishermen?  If we don't, what is holding us back?

These four fishermen could have already heard some rumors that Jesus was in the area, and were either curious to meet Him, or eager to meet Him.  We don't know if these men were already believers or not.  Let's say they were not.  Maybe they were the types that doubted if there was any God at all, or maybe they believed that there is a God, but they didn't know Him personally.  They could have been just going through life, trying to be good and stay out of trouble, while wondering what was missing; and saying to themselves, "Is this all there is in life, just going through the motions?  There must be more to life than this."  And then they hear Jesus calling them, asking them to follow Him, because in Him and with Him, there was a greater purpose.  Done!  They immediately recognized that Jesus was not just some guy, and they made their decision to follow Him.  

Now let's say that these fishermen were already believers.  There is nothing wrong with being a fisherman.  One can still serve the Lord as a fisherman!  But then here, Jesus calls them to join Him in doing the next thing.  For us, it might not be an entirely, seemingly "next thing", it might be a different thing, or an extra thing.  But whatever it is, there's the opportunity to grow closer to Jesus in one's relationship with Him, and be personally taught by Him, and serve alongside Him.  Done!  Even though there will be struggles and sacrifices along the way, God will not ask us to do something, unless He's going to be right there to help.  And even if we are not aware of what's to come, just know that it will serve the greater purpose.  And notice that besides God being right there with us, we also have brothers and sisters in Christ.

Notice that in calling these four men, Jesus called two sets of brothers.  We already know that John of Zebedee was very young.  Being a young teenager, and being able to serve alongside a brother, would be like an extra human-comfort-thing.  While we can know that "God's got this", and Christianity is all about having a relationship with Him... God knows!  He created us as social beings, looking to have others in our lives.  This is just one of the reasons why God tells us to not neglect the meeting of the saints!  Iron sharpens iron.  We are to be mentoring, disciplining and encouraging one another to be putting the Lord God first in our lives, in a personal relationship with Him.  

Now, in our relationship with the Lord... when He calls us to do something, do we respond this quickly?  There are times that I do, and times that I don't.  When I do respond, there are no regrets.  Serving the Lord is always a great blessing!  Why then would I hesitate other times?  Definitely there can be self-centeredness and selfishness involved!  And definitely there are times of worry and fear.  Like, am I really suited for this?  But often that fear is so unreasonable because, yes, God has actually equipped me for exactly that task!  Everything that I've gone through in life has led up to this opportunity!  Once I get past the fear, with God's help, I then can experience God working for me, in me, and through me, and it is amazing!

Okay, so I JUST heard a pastor speak on the following, and it made me think, and do my analyzing-thing.  FYI: "worry" is just another way to fear.  And while God tells us that we do not have to worry or fear about anyone or anything, fear is not a sin.  Fear is an emotional response which alerts us to something, and tells us that we need to urgently do something.  The question becomes, do we continue to think and do things in our own efforts, even though we are doing such a bad job of it, because, well... we're probably still worrying and fearing... or do we go to God?

Let's go back to what God tells us.  As believers, who fear God (which means to awesomely respect Him), we are not to fear anyone or anything... Why?  Only because our response has been to ask God to help us, and ask God to equip and guide us with whatever it is that we need in that moment!  And maybe what we need in that moment, is to rest in the Lord and trust Him and let Him fight our battle.  Every situation will be different.  But every response should be that we run to the Lord!  That we IMMEDIATELY go to Him, follow Him - remain with Him - wherever and in whatever we should be doing in that moment.