Engagement of Lotti & Meyer
Mark 1
16 And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
19 When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. 20 And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.
Here we read how Jesus called some of His first disciples. They were ordinary fishermen, but Jesus told them to follow Him and He would make them fishers of men.
They obeyed immediately when Jesus called them.
Jesus must be the first in our life. When He speaks, we must obey immediately.
Peter was married but we don’t read that he first went to find out from his wife whether she would object if he followed Jesus. No, Jesus was more important to him than his wife.
When Jesus called others to follow Him, one said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” He had a valid excuse. But Jesus expected that he would count Jesus more important than his father. Others excuse themselves from following Jesus because of marriage, or possessions.
No, Jesus must be more important to you than your wife, children, brother, sister, parents, lands or goods.
Jesus promised that any who forsake these things for His sake will receive a hundred fold and inherit eternal life.
We must be determined by God’s grace not to look to the left or right but follow Him unreservedly.
When Jesus called these men, they were not fishers of men yet, but He promised that He would make them into fishers of men, if they followed Him.
We also read how Jesus prepared His disciples for Calvary, His death. He came for a purpose – to give His life for His people. He went to great pains to prepare them for it, but what is heart-breaking is that they constantly were on the human, carnal level, and could not comprehend it until it happened.
When the Lord Jesus spoke plainly to His disciples that He was going to die Peter could not understand it and rebuked the Lord Jesus. But Jesus was very straight and looking at the other disciples He rebuked Peter saying, “behind Me Satan, because you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of man.” Even after this matter, Peter still did not understand for he cut off the ear of one of the people who came to arrest Jesus and then denied the Lord. The disciples did not want to die and were fighting for life. When the things got tough and did not go according to their way of thinking, and Jesus was arrested they all forsook the Lord and fled.
Peter first followed Jesus afar off and then he found himself in the company of Jesus’ enemies. Before long he had denied the Lord Jesus.
Peter wasn’t prepared to die.
But praise God that when the cock crowed and Jesus’ eyes met Peter’s, that he went out, wept bitterly and repented.
Jesus made it clear that to follow Him you will have to deny yourself and lose your life. This is very difficult to man. Many want to follow Jesus and even profess it with their mouths, but they are not prepared to fulfil the conditions. You have to deny yourself and take up your cross daily. It is easy to do it once or twice or for a while, but to take up the cross daily and die every day – that is where many fail.
To many their great learning is a hindrance to them. They know how things can be done better and cannot bow. They want to prove themselves right. But such people cannot follow Jesus. You have to become the servant of all, and lose your life.
You may walk with Jesus, and then certain things happen which you don’t understand and you are disappointed. Beware lest you start to follow Jesus from a distance. Do you still have your first love towards the Lord Jesus, or do you allow a bit of the world to enter into your life? Do not let things enter which will dampen your first love for the Lord. Stay close to Him, continually forsaking all for His sake.