City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

¹⁶ Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” ¹⁸ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹ And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰ And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Mark 1:16-20 (ESV)

³⁴ And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ³⁷ For what can a man give in return for his soul?

Mark 8:34-37 (ESV)

Reflection

Do you understand the gospel?  I’m not sure that I do.  I’ve been a follower of Christ for decades, but I can’t say that I understand it.  Oh, I understand some things.  I understand that Jesus loves me and that is enough for me to follow Him.  And I even understand that God made me, therefore He has the right to determine everything about my life.  And perhaps it is because of this right God has the right to tell me to take up my cross and follow Him.  And if He did order me around based on His rights to me and my life, I would probably understand it.  But that is not what He did, and that is not the gospel.

When Jesus calls us, we have a chance to respond to Him or ignore Him.  Jesus does not call us with a question, He calls us with a command, to which we either obey or disobey.  If we disobey, we are rejecting His offer and we maintain ourselves as the lord of our life.  But if we obey, we are accepting Him as Lord and now our lives can be changed.  You know that He is your Lord by your obedience to Him.

There once was a noted teacher and a famous man who had claimed to be the student of the teacher.  As it turns out, this famous man did not reflect the values that this teacher taught in his classes.  One day a reporter asked him about this famous man being his student, but not reflecting his values.  The teacher explained, “well, he may have attended my classes, but he was never my student.”  And so, it is with us when we follow Christ.  There may be other values, options, and ways of living in the world, but you are only a follower of Christ if you do what He teaches.

Application

In your Christian life, there are probably things that Christ is asking you to do.  There may be things He wants you to give up.  Or He may want you to reach out to someone, care for someone, or stay away from someone.  The point here is not to find the most difficult thing you can think of to prove your love for Christ.  Rather, the idea here is to listen to what Christ is saying to your heart, and then go do that.

We often want to do something great and stunning to prove our faith.  But God has a better plan.  He wants you to do things that will build your faith, and those things need to be done in relationship with Him.  So, start with faithfulness in small things.  You’ll be surprised at how big that becomes once you learn to obey the call of Christ consistently.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I pray that You build my faith according to Your plan for my life.  I pray that You teach me obedience and faithfulness to Your call.  And I pray for grace to stay within the call of Your voice, that I might not run ahead of You and become my own lord.  And that I might not lag behind You, and forget Your faithfulness to me.  In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.