Hey, I Just Met You, Now Come Follow Me

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There are some days when I'm reading my Bible when I just don't comprehend what I'm reading until later. It seems like I go throughout my day and then all of a sudden a passage comes back to me. It's like God grabs me on the shoulder, turns me around and says "Check this out!"

Today was one of those days. I was reading a devotional. It wasn't centered on the words Jesus said to Nathanael in John 1 but it included that story. Here, let's read the passage:

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48 Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greatter things than these." 51And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." 

The first thing that pops out to me, is Jesus just walks up to Philip tells him to follow and he does! This happens so many times when Jesus calls the disciples. No questions. Some leave their nets, one leaves a tax collection table, and the others also just drop what they are doing and go after Him.

What a different world this would be if we did the same thing. For a moment I'm not even going to talk about those not already claiming Christ in their lives. I'm talking to the Christians. Jesus has called each of us to follow Him. We each have works that God has laid out for us to accomplish (Ephesians 2:10). What if we stopped making excuses and just left what we were doing to follow. 

Stop using your family as an excuse. "God has been calling me to do inner-city mission work for years but my wife really likes where we are." or "I would listen to the call of God but now is not a good time financially"

I'm too old.
I don't have the time.
I'm not skilled in that area.
I wouldn't even know where to start.

I don't see any of the people Jesus calls, making excuses. Instead they just follow, knowing that the details will take care of themselves. 

People that know me well, know that I like to plan. I am most comfortable when I know the outcome of a situation and I can plan accordingly. Sometime though, God calls us to take those first few steps without a complete plan and we need to rely on Him to work out the details.

The other thing that pops out to me in this story is the praise that Jesus gives to Nathanael. Scroll up and take a look at verses 47-48. Jesus knew who Nathanael was, and also knew what He was capable of.

This is so important for us to remember. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows where we have come from and where we are going. This is why when God calls us to go, we should listen. He is calling us, because He knows that we are capable of completing the task (especially since He will be giving us the power to do so!). 

There are really no good excuses to not follow God with abandon. God gave His Son on a cross for each of us. He has called each of us to do work for the Kingdom. Stop making excuses and run the race God has laid before you, even if you can't see exactly where you are going. 

God can, and He doesn't lead astray.