Let’s read a couple of verses in Matthew 4, “While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he [Jesus] saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he [Jesus] said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” (Matthew 4:18-22)
Now, read Luke 5:27-28 “After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi [before his name was changed to Matthew], sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.”
Note how all of these men, as SOON as they heard Jesus say “Follow Me”, they IMMEDIATELY left everything and followed Him! They had no clue what they were getting into. Jesus didn’t set them down and say, “Now, here’s what’s going to happen…” He just said “Follow Me…”, and they did! The Jewish people had been looking for the Messiah to come for hundreds of years. They had heard about Him through the Old Testament writings, and through prophets. And so, when He appeared on the scene, they dropped everything else and followed Him.
That’s the essence of the Christian life! Remember, Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'” He doesn’t mean follow Him when you finally have everything figured out, or when you figure you’ve got enough money saved up, or when you are “ready”. He means NOW!
That of course, is one of the hardest things for us to come to grasp with in the Christian life it seems. It is ALL about Jesus Christ, and not ONE SINGLE BIT about us! That’s why only those who TRULY know Him as Lord and Savior can even begin to trust Him enough to TRULY follow Him. It’s never going to be easy! That’s all part of following Him. That’s why He said “Take up his cross daily…” Because we have to follow Him NO MATTER what it costs us if we want to know all that He alone can offer us!