(Mark 1:14-20) Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. 19 And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James theson of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.
I am reading a book with an Introduction of a message by Bro Charles H. Spurgeon, an English preacher of the 19th century.
He said “My brethren, we are not half Christians; that is the reason why we have not half success. We are Chistianized, but I question whether we are thoroughly so.”
His statement about being Christianized is the word I will use to help us understand our duty, “…Come ye after me…” We as Christians do understand to some degree our responsibility to the Lord. We understand we are to tithe. We acknowledge that we must support missions, support our church, and our Pastor.
However, when we look at our lives, we might find we are only a “half Christian.” We may not refuse, but we step back from “…ye after me…” We attempt to live a Christian life, but when the “wheel needs greasing,” we sometimes look to the Pastor or our pew neighbor to take up the slack. We may place more importance on our secular worldly lives than we do on our responsibility to the Lord Jesus and His Father, our God in Heaven.
I know, and I understand where we each are in our lives. We have to eat and pay rent, but we each must understand the necessity of following in the steps of our Lord Jesus. He tells us He will make us fishers’ of men. He will do that, though we may get to the realm of unwillingness to follow and be the best Christian we can be.
We must concern ourselves with lost souls. We must concern ourselves with the growth of the brethren. Where are you this hour? Seek Him, and ask Him to help you do the whole job, and become a full Christian, not just a person who is “Christianized.”
No comments:
Post a Comment