LEARN FROM THE GREATEST (2)

“Then He said to them, “FOLLOW ME, and I will MAKE YOU fishers of men” – Matthew 4:19

Following the Reality of Life rather than hollow religion, enables us to LEARN FROM the GREATEST: “Then He said to them, “FOLLOW ME, and I will MAKE YOU fishers of men” (Mt.4:19). Jesus is not all about religion – the search for God; He is all about Reality – Encounter with Divinity! Here, He initiated the call for humble fishermen to follow Him, demonstrating divine authority and ability to transform ordinary people for an extraordinary, eternal mission: gathering people into God’s Kingdom! When we encounter the Person of the Son of God, He miraculously and radically changes our hearts and enables us to begin to renew our minds, guiding us in our personal lives, relationships, career and business endeavours, service, and ministry.

When we admit our myopic perception of our Lord Jesus Christ, as not just another religious leader, the founder of Christianity, a great teacher of morality, or a mere myth or legend, over time, our thinking, attitudes, and beliefs, begin to be shaped by His timeless teachings, and we become acutely aware of the potential relevance of His Life and Message to our own lives. Those who think of the Lord only as a “religious” envoy, fail to discover all that He can do to shape their thinking and inspire their lives, which may then become drowned in uncertainty, frustration, failure, anxiety, discouragement, depression, or despair.

From the moment we respond to the Lord’s “Follow Me, and I will make you,” He no more represents a religion to us (Mt.4:19). He becomes our best Friend, Guide, Mentor, Master, and Lord! Whereas, religion is about trying to work our way up to God to become acceptable to Him, Jesus talked about a Relationship with God that human beings could embrace by establishing a personal relationship with Christ. This was about God reaching down to Man – through the loving sacrifice of His Son. This relational encounter transforms our values, leading and lifting us to new levels of peace, joy, success, and all-round fulfilment.

In following the Lord, we’re guaranteed the “Light of Life” (Jh.8:12). This means that our personal relationship with Him, His teachings and leadership would help to guide and shape our thoughts, attitudes, choices, actions, and accomplishments at home, work, and in ministry. He came that we might have eternal life and have it more abundantly, right now (Jh.10:10b). That’s not a religious message! To receive and enjoy this life, we have to trust in His directions and follow His guidance.

To those who have followed the Lord, He has made the fearful bold and courageous, the anxious confident, the hopeless hopeful and faithful, the worthless valuable, the failed successful, the selfish caring, the hateful loving, the greedy generous, the unattractive desirable, the insecure secure, the sick healthy, the blind seeing, and those who were spiritually lost found!