Today’s Reading: Luke 5
Key Verse: Luke 5:11
So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
It’s exciting to follow Jesus! In this chapter, Jesus filled two boats with fish, cleansed a leper, healed a paralyzed man, called another one of His disciples, attended a party, taught about fasting and gave a parable about clothing and wine skins. We need to keep watching Jesus and listening carefully to His teaching. To follow Jesus, Peter and Andrew left their business behind, and Levi (Matthew) resigned his government job. If we want to follow Jesus as our vocation, we too must be sure of His call, leave all behind and learn from Him 24/7. Do we cling to something that should be left behind? As in Jesus’ parable, the new cannot just be added to the old life. It’s a new beginning. Now let’s invite Jesus, as Matthew did, to a party with our friends and introduce Jesus to everyone we know.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord Jesus, I am determined to follow You. This means that there is a cross for me to bear, as well as the joy of Your presence. Grant me Your strength, Your willingness to sacrifice, and the grace of obedience. I’m Yours Lord, now and forever. In Your Name I pray. Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I’m committed to rising early every morning, spending time reading God’s Word and meditating on it. I give myself to prayer and then open my laptop to write this devotional. At the present time in my life, this is what it means for me to follow Jesus. At other times, I’ve been a school teacher, a Bible College student, a pastor and an evangelist. To support my family, I’ve owned a little printing press and made business cards for all the businesses in the village, took a job in construction, knocked on every door in town to find children for Sunday School and, yes, I hosted TV programs for 50 years. At each “crossroads,” I decided to follow Jesus. Never, for one minute, have I been sorry that I left other things behind in order to follow Him.
