Mark 1:16–19 ‘“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”’ (v17)
Mark gives us a summary of how Jesus invites Simon and Andrew, and later James and John, to be His followers. The account in John’s Gospel suggests that all four had already met with Jesus in Judea when they were followers of John the Baptist, and realised they needed to switch allegiance to Him. They were not simply following a random stranger!
Jesus is forming a team of people who will join Him in His public ministry of declaring the good news of God and demonstrating the love of God in the lives of those they came across. A follower was like an apprentice today, learning from the master craftsman and given opportunity to imitate him or her.
The metaphor of fishing for people would have been an obvious one for these four men, all of whom earned their living from fish. Today we acknowledge that some have particular gifts in declaring the good news as evangelists, but every believer in Jesus is to be a good advert for the gospel. We do, after all, display in our lives what walking with Jesus looks like and, as opportunity arises, speak about the benefits of knowing God and invite others to become followers.
Don’t let any unhelpful images of what evangelism might look like stop you from finding your natural way of befriending people and chatting about what your faith means to you. It remains the privilege of every believer, and who knows who may be awaiting words from you that can turn their lives around as God works?
A Prayer To Make:
‘Please give me opportunities today to speak about my faith with someone else and help me to be utterly natural as I do so. Amen.’
An Action To Take:
Ask Jesus to help you take opportunities to talk about Him with those who don’t yet know Him in ways that seem natural to you.
Scripture To Consider:
Deut. 4:1–14; 2 Kgs 5:1–14; 2 Cor. 5:11–21; 1 Pet. 2:4–10
