They were fishermen. Their fathers were fishermen, and probably their father's fathers had been fishermen.

They had been a fishing family for generations, and they knew nothing else. Their whole life, their past and their future was tied up in their boats and the fish and the lake.

And then one day Jesus called them to follow Him and they upped and left it!

Being a Christian isn't merely a matter of "believing"; - it's "following"!

After "Materialism", the greatest threat to real, living, life changing Christianity is "Intellectualism".

Now don't misunderstand me. We're meant to have a "Thinking faith".

God gives each of us a mind and He expects us to use it. He expects us to study our Bibles and know what we believe.

But there is the real danger that Christianity can be allowed to degenerate into mere Theology. If you ever look at a chat forum on the internet. Espeicially a Christian one, you will see debates about Onced saved always etc. and many other arguements.

It's so very tempting to turn a living experience into an academic exercise; where all we "know" about God is what we've read, or what we've heard.

In the Book of Psalms, David wrote this, "Thy word have I hid in my heart."

"Not in "My head." but "My heart".

There's a great temptation to keep the Word of God imprisoned in our head. We can do lots with it while it's up there.

We can think about it. We can rationalise it. We can debate it, preach it and ignore it. We can win arguments with it and we can use it to split churches and hurt other people. We're particularly good at that.

As long as we make sure we don't let it out of our head and into our heart, we're safe. Because if the Word of God ever gets into our heart;- it'll change our life.

God says, "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts".

Intellectualism is keeping it in our head. Christian living is hiding it in our heart.

Peter and Andrew and James and John could have listened to all that Jesus had to say; and then spent the rest of their lives in stimulating theological debate, while they mended their nets after a day's fishing. - But they didn't.

When He called them, they went, leaving behind them the security of a steady business, a family and a home.

The temptation to substitute Christian talk, Christian organization and Christian intellectualism, for real Christian work, is still very strong.

But God intends the Church to be an army;- not a committee.

Jesus’ invitation was and is so simple - “Come follow Me”. Beginning with twelve unlikely men, history records the lives of many who have responded to that call at all costs and so shown themselves to be disciples of Christ.

What motivated them to respond with “reckless abandon” to such a simple call from this man Jesus?

It seems as though they had no concern for questions such as how thewy might benefit and what exactly was involved in following Christ.

Somehow when they recognized who it was calling them, they needed no other reason to obey. It was the simple yet profound fact that God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, in all of his authority had called.

My prayer is that history might repeat itself, that we might hear those words of jesus again, “ Come Follow Me”, and that we too might responf as true disciples by living and giving ourslves for the sake of the call.

OPTIONS :