“The call to follow Jesus is a daily invitation, not a distant reality.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – February 11, 2021
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. Mark 1:16-18 (NRSV)
The call to follow Jesus is a daily invitation, not a distant reality. Jesus calls us to initial obedience, and then continues to call and lead us in and through life’s great joys and seasons of profound pain and loss. This call is neither disembodied nor abstract. We do not simply think about following Jesus. We put our trust in his call through intentional steps of obedience. As Dostoevsky said of loving God and our neighbor, “It’s an old truth which has been told and retold a billion times – but it has not formed part of our lives.”
Following Jesus cannot simply be a set of beliefs or positions, but must be rooted in the lived experience of daily life. This is especially true of the parts of life that seem remarkably unspiritual. We must not miss the fact that the call of Jesus to his first disciples was not initially upon a mountain top, or we might add, on a silent prayer retreat. No, he breaks into the disciples’ lives in the midst of the most mundane of their daily chores – mending nets.
Jesus can be encountered in the ordinary stuff of life, and therefore the routine and unseen parts of your journey are of great importance to him. The way you fold the mountain of clothes on your bed matters to the Lord. How you speak to your children while virtual schooling is not disconnected from your discipleship. Filing taxes or caring for your home can be an invitation into greater fidelity to Christ and his kingdom.
In fact, tending to the tiny details of life is an essential part of ensuring the overarching story of our lives remains on track. Relationships, for example, do not fall apart overnight, but unravel in slow and often unseen ways. Or, framed positively, relational trust and intimacy is gained, not in a single moment of fidelity, but in daily patterns of self-giving love that grow and blossom over time.
Prayer
Father, help me to encounter you in the small details of everyday life, I pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Application
What does “mending nets” look like in your context? How can you invite Jesus to meet you in that place?
Related Reading
1 Kings 3:14; Matthew 6:33; Matthew 19:29
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