Monday, October 26

Jesus said to [Simon and Andrew], "Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
—Mark 1:17-18

I have this fantasy. If I can clear off my desk and complete all the promises that each of those pieces of paper represents, and I can clear all my e-mail, and visit with everyone on my prayer list, then everything in the church will be great. Now that's a little crazy, I know. But what's crazier is…I take that same controlling insanity from my office to my life.

“I'm not as happy as I need to be, so I need to change. I'm not functioning as well as I ought, so I need to be improved upon. So if I can just read the right book, adopt the right technique, work on myself a bit, I'll be able to straighten myself out.” 

Anybody else ever have those thoughts? You bet. Well that's the craziness Jesus came to save us from with his refreshing word, “Repent.”

But—and this is what's really crazy—most people hear that word “repent” and think Jesus is telling them that they need to work even harder to fix themselves. NO!

Look at the fishermen. Jesus told them to quit trying to mend their nets, to stop their efforts to keep things from falling through the cracks. Just bring your acceptance and your trust and follow me, he said. Everything's going to work out just fine.

We'll catch people. What fun! And they dropped everything and followed him. What freedom.

Turn me away from my compulsions and preoccupations, Jesus, and give me the peace and trust to rest in your presence, following you into whatever this day will bring. Amen.

These Signposts were originally published on explorefaith.org in 2005.