Tuesday, September 14

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in to the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Mark 1:14-20


Think about this for a second: Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, who was born in a miraculous way, lived in obedience to his parents and to his heavenly father for 30 years, was baptized by John the Baptist, and when he is set to finally begin his public ministry he goes looking for a bunch of fishermen? Really? The truth is, these men were in the fishing business most likely because they failed to qualify for higher level religious training. At some point they were encouraged to join the family business instead of pursue further theological studies. After 30 years of preparation, Jesus is finally launching the public phase of his earthly ministry – a ministry that will last only a scant three years. You would think that he would look for the most qualified and well-trained men he could find to join his team. Why would he choose these relatively uneducated men who had absolutely no experience in what he was going to ask them to do?

While no one can know with certainty the mind of Jesus, I think we can guess that Jesus was not necessarily looking for those who already thought they had the whole “religious thing” figured out. I think he was looking for ordinary guys – but ordinary guys whose hearts were ready for his call.

Throughout the Bible we see stories of how God calls and uses otherwise ordinary people for his own extraordinary purposes. Sometimes we think of characters like Gideon, Ruth, or Daniel as being “Bible people,” and therefore as somehow different from you and me. The truth is that before their stories became part of God’s story – they were exactly like you and me! And the same is true with Simon (Peter), Andrew, James and John – ordinary fishermen called by Jesus to extraordinary faith and extraordinary lives.

So do you think of yourself as “just an ordinary Christian?” Most of us do. Part of this way of thinking is, of course, appropriate humility. But part of it might also be that we have a tendency to underestimate what Jesus might want to do in and through us. I believe Jesus always sees more in us than we see in ourselves! And when he calls us to follow him into some “Kingdom assignment” – he does so because he wants us to discover who we can be and what we can do through him!

Ask the Lord today to help you discern his call and to have the spiritual courage to follow!

Brian Coffey