And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19 ESV
One of the greatest gifts God offers us is to become participants in His divine mission. His call to follow is not some intellectual pursuit, some state of enlightenment and inner peace we must achieve, nor a summons to live a life of asceticism. His call is an invitation to follow Him.
This call to follow contains two parts: a universal (global) call and an individual call. Our universal call is to love Him and serve Him, and to spread the Gospel. His call is also specific to each one of His followers, urging us to use those specific gifts and talents He’s bestowed upon us to further His Kingdom, to use our particular life experiences to minister to others in a similar situation, and to speak to those people He’s placed along our path, whether at home, at work, in our neighborhood, or even in the grocery store.
We must grasp the truth that our ‘calling’ is not about us; it’s about God. “There has been a dire shrinkage in how we understand God’s call by drastically reducing the immensity of its significance to our individual lives alone. It then becomes all about us . . .”1
God invites you and me to participate in the most extraordinary mission our world has ever known, one with an impact so far-reaching that it affects eternity. He doesn’t need us, yet He invites us. Today, won’t you heed His call to follow? Don’t worry. You don’t need special training or abilities because He will make you into a fisherman after His own heart.
1 Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling God’s Purpose for Your Life