Thoughts from Tomorrow's Sermon, Luke 5:1-11.

Straight AheadWilliam Carey said: "Attempt great things for God; expect great things from God." The trouble with today's church is that we neither attempt nor expect very much. What are we willing to risk for the cause of Christ? How much are we willing to change our lives in order to be faithful to His call? Do we place a higher priority on serving Jesus or on convenience for ourselves and our families? Is Jesus Christ first, or isn't He? These are difficult questions. When I ask them, I challenge myself as well as others who may hear or read these comments. Of course, not everyone is called to adopt a full-time Christian vocation; but all Christians are called to place a high priority on their walk with Christ. Biblical evidence suggests that Peter might have once followed Jesus, and then gone back to fishing. After this episode in Luke 5, however, Peter was transformed and truly left everything to follow Christ. That didn't mean that he never sinned again, or that he was "the perfect disciple." But his life was rearranged by Jesus. Have our lives truly been reordered, rearranged, by the Son of Man, the One who was called, in a popular song of a few years ago, the "man from Galilee?" Half-hearted discipleship is no discipleship! Either Christ is Lord of our lives, or He isn't. I sometimes wish it weren't quite that stark and clear-cut; but it is, my friend. It is!