Jessica Albritton, NextGen Minister LHBC
Matthew 4:18-22
18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 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. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
A while back LinkedIn released an article where they detailed 7 key traits of highly trustworthy people. The list included honesty, respect, consistency, care, gratefulness, positivity and selflessness. The article stated, “trustworthy people show themselves as they are, transparent from the inside out.” It goes on to talk about how trustworthy people are the same whether they are at work, home, or anywhere else. Trust is an interesting thing. When you trust someone it means you think of them as reliable, you have confidence in them. It’s something that is earned, not just given. If you ever lose someone’s trust it can take a LOT to gain it back, and still some people never gain back the trust they have lost.
There is a song by Passion Music that I love called Follow You Anywhere. Part of the chorus goes, “There’s a million reasons to trust You, Nothing to fear for You are by my side, I’ll follow You anywhere.” Every time I hear that song I think of Matthew chapter 4 where Jesus called His first disciples. In Matthew 4 Jesus is just beginning His earthly ministry, He had been baptized, tempted in the wilderness for 40 days, and started preaching. In New Orleans, part of my job was to look over resumes of student ministers looking for jobs and helping them get placed where they needed to be. A key part of any resume is the “experience” section. You can have all the education in the world, you can have a PhD in astrophysics, but if you don’t have any experience most of the time you will be passed over. I told all our students, get an internship, go volunteer, do SOMETHING to beef up your resume! Because that’s what most employers are looking at.
I often wonder what it was about Jesus that made the disciples drop everything and follow Him. Now you and I both know that Jesus is God’s Son, the Son of Man, Savior of the world, but that early in His earthly ministry not much had been recorded. To be quite honest, if Jesus had a resume in Matthew 4 it would probably look a little meager, and He may have even been passed over for the job by the world’s standards.
Jesus went on to prove Himself over and over again throughout His life. By Matthew 28, when He gives the Great Commission, the disciples have a million reasons to trust Him. We, like the disciples, have a million reasons to trust Him as well. Jesus has proven Himself over and over again, but it can be easy to forget. When the world gets hard, when the future seems uncertain, it’s human nature to forget. Today reflect back on all the goodness of God, remember the million reasons we have to trust in Him, and rest in the fact that He was, is, and will always be trustworthy.
Song of Worship: Follow You Anywhere
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Heavenly Father, help me to trust you in all things! Lord, you have proven yourself over and over again. Help me to keep at the forefront all the reasons that there are to trust you! When life gets hard and the next step is unknown help me to rest in your trustworthiness! In Jesus name, amen!
MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
Psalm 63:3
Because Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise You.