Daily Reflection

“As Jesus walked along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two fishermen, Simon and his brother Andrew, catching fish with a net. Jesus said to them, “Come with me, and I will teach you to catch people.” At once they left their nets and went with him.” (Mark 1: 16-18)

I have often found myself pondering this Biblical passage, as it seems to come up quite regularly in my daily devotional readings. Was it really that simple? Did Jesus actually appear in the lives of these fishermen where they literally immediately abandoned what they were doing, their families, their livelihood, just like that, and proceeded to follow Him? Or was there more to this story? I honestly wish I knew, because I have a hard time believing it was that easy for them to instantly give up every part of their lives and start following Christ.

I’ve frequently tried to place myself in their shoes, or should I say their sandals, by picturing myself in my own gardens doing my day-to-day pruning, trimming, edging, etc., when out of the clear blue a guy with long hair and a beard abruptly appears on my sidewalk and says “Come with me, and I will teach you to catch people.” In all honesty, in light all the sickness I’ve witnessed over the years in my recovery from addiction, my first thought most likely wouldn’t be that this was Jesus incarnate. Rather, I’d probably be thinking this person might need some mental help. Yet, I’d also like to believe that Jesus would know I’d react that way ahead of time and would in all likelihood not only bring a level of peace with Him that I’d feel right from the start, but would totally know the precise words to say to me that would connect to my soul.

So, did the disciples really just give everything up and follow Jesus right from the start? It really doesn’t matter, because the end result is the same, they saw something in Christ they wanted for themselves and were willing to follow Him anywhere. And that is exactly what I hope I’d do if Christ were to ever appear before me and ask me to follow Him.

Dear God, I pray that I’m open to following You wherever You wish to lead me, for I know that wherever You do, it will be a far better path than any of the ones I’ve ever taken on my own free will in this life.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Author: Andrew Arthur Dawson

A teacher of meditation, a motivational speaker, a reader of numerology, and a writer by trade, Andrew Arthur Dawson is a spiritual man devoted to serving his Higher Power and bringing a lot more light and love into this world. This blog, www.thetwelfthstep.com is just one of those ways...

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