The Year of Follow Through
We often face a choice between the comfortable, easy way and the more helpful but challenging way. How can
we make the right choice? Jesus challenges His hearers to count the cost and recognize the consequences of discipleship. Notice the context in which Jesus approaches His soon-to-be disciples. Jesus meets them in a place where they are already working toward a pre-planned purpose. They are fishing as they have always done, and Jesus calls them in the midst of their work.
These men will find out that being a disciple of Christ is easier said than done. Once we choose to be a disciple of Christ, we choose to be subject to God’s specific will for our lives even in those good and bad, wanted and unwanted,
favorable and unfavorable days and moments in life. However, the rewards will be far greater than the sacrifices made in our discipleship.
In one sentence, Jesus gives the pathway to executing the task He gives us. First, we must come. We must take up our necessary bait, i.e., fellowshipping with Jesus ourselves while also leaving behind some things that are not needed
for the trip. Second, we must follow Jesus. There were probably many other fishermen out on the sea that day, but none presented a new place and purpose for the brothers. To follow Jesus requires a devoted sense of call.
