My Daily Pause

The Calling of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew – between 1886 and 1894 – James Tissot (1836–1902)

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus chose busy people when he selected his disciples?

A deacon that I used to go to church with often said, “If you need something done around here, ask a busy person.”

Peter, Andrew, James, and John were busy working the day Jesus called them. (Matthew 4:18-22) There is a lot of information to be gleaned about the disciples from that event:

• They were hard workers
• They knew people
• They understood how to deal with challenges

By reading Matthew alone, it looks a little like they just dropped what they were doing to follow Jesus. But, If we look at all four Gospels we know they were familiar with him and knew his teachings. By this we know he doesn’t want us to be novices.

If we take a little time to look at the book of Hebrews, we see the writer addressing lazy Christians. (Hebrews 5:11-6:20) They weren’t spiritually growing and maturing so they were not growing the church – many were even backsliding! Our Christian growth never stops, much less the day we get baptized.

Being a Christian is a full time job. By looking at the kind of people that Jesus chose to work with him, we know he expects a few things from us:

• We are to be diligent (2 Timothy 2:15)
• We are to influence others (Matthew 5:13-16)
• We are to be problem solvers (Romans 5:3-5)

So here is a challenge: Do a self-assessment and come up with some ways to improve these areas in yourself.