Christmas is behind us, a New Year in front of us. All the glitter and glamour of the holiday season have shut down, waiting to be resurrected again next year. We will tuck away our “Baby Jesus” and the new year will begin a long stretch of returning to “normalcy” (if there is such a thing.)
The man Christ Jesus, however, will not be “tucked away.” As we read through the Gospels, it is evident that there is far more to the coming of Christ than just “Baby Jesus.”
When Jesus began His ministry, He began to call men to be His disciples. Luke 5 records the challenges to Simon Peter the fisherman, and Levi (Matthew) the tax collector. Jesus said, “Follow me,” and both responded the same way – they left everything and followed him.
“Jesus replied to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people. And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.”
“Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me and be my disciple,’ Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.” [vs 10-11, 27-28 NLT]
Jesus has never stopped calling men and women to be His disciples. There is far more to a decision for Christ than just raising our hands or coming forward in a service. To be His disciples, we leave everything – EVERYTHING – this world might offer. Peter left a boatload of fish and Levi left a table full of money.
And then they followed.
