You have a choice.

You can either read the reflection below or listen to me talk in the video here:

Day 3- Matthew 4:12-25

When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,    Galilee of the Gentiles—16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light;on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

Here we see the start of Jesus’ ministry in Matthew. We see him start to declare “the kingdom of God has come near”. People begin to flock to Jesus and bring the sick and hurting to him for healing. What stands out to me though is this; the calling of the disciples.  We see Jesus invent them to follow him. WHat is interesting about this is that traditionally a Rabbi (Teacher) would be approached by the followers and be asked if they could follow him. Here we see Jesus inviting people to follow him. The other thing that stands out is that both Simon and Andrew and James and John drop everything and immediately begin to follow.  It is no small thing that they left everything behind in order to follow Jesus, and I think this is something we need to take a better hold of in our culture today. Jesus needs to be the focus and lord over all aspects of our lives. We get too used to giving only the parts we want to to him and holding back something for ourselves. But, Jesus gives us an invitation to follow him. To walk with him and learn more about who he is and what he’s doing. He invites us along to be a part of the work he is doing to restore and renew everything. The question we have to ask ourselves is this: can we lay everything down and Jesus’ feet and follow him? 

You are invited to pray or to be prayed for. As we learn more about who Jesus is let us then enter into prayer and be shaped by him.