Devotion
LOTS DayCorridor District
November 18, 2017
We were created to give God the Glory!
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Hi everyone! My name is Bea Gilmore and I’m your Spiritual Growth Coordinator for Corridor District.
It’s near the end of 2017, the end of our focus on the word follow, but not the end of our acts of following Jesus. Jesus summons us to follow in his footsteps and to grow spiritually.
Our focus scripture this year has been Matthew 4:19: “And he said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
And I’d like to recall a few other moments when Jesus spoke those words…
John 8:12…. When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Mark 10:20-22 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Luke 5:27-28…After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him,28and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
Those are some pretty daunting words. Follow me. Thinking about it and doing it are two quite different actions. As our year comes to its celebratory and feasting close, with Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and the New Year’s Day to mark in all the various ways that we do this, we consider Follow me once more, here today as we enter into our Local Officers’ Training Session for Corridor District.
Jesus said “Follow me”to many people throughout the Gospels. To Simon, who became Peter, and his brother Andrew, Jesus said them… he chose them to be his first disciples. On their part, there was no discussion, no thinking about it… they didn’t know what they were getting into… they didn’t count the cost… they just dropped their nets, and left their jobs, their life and livelihood, and walked away to follow Jesus.
Wow! Just walked away from it all. To follow Jesus. We are Christians… We say to ourselves and to others, “I want to follow Jesus. I will try to follow Jesus. I am following Jesus. …
Then, we pray for forgiveness when our thoughts, words, and actions have not shown evidence that we follow Jesus. It is hard to follow Jesus… to give up everything that distracts us or prevents us from doing the Lord’s work. There is much to give up. Our whole lives, in fact.
We trust the Lord and we believe in God… but faith is more than trusting and believing. Being faithful means being like Christ and doing like Christ. Simon and Andrew showed great faith when they dropped their fishing nets to follow Jesus without another thought.
Because we are faithful, we are one of his disciples too, followers of Jesus Christ. And, as his disciples, we seek to understand his will and his way. We seek to do his will in his way. We seek and we follow.
Each one of us here today has been called to follow Jesus, called to use our skills and talents in some way to enrich and enhance the lives of others, to lift up and encourage each other, to be supportive as we go about the tasks we are asked to do within our United Methodist conference, the district, our units, our churches, our neighborhoods, even within our world. As we follow Jesus, as we do this with various degrees of hesitancy or confidence, and we wonder ‘how am I going to get all these tasks done in time’… remember that our gifts and abilities come to us by God’s grace and they are to be used by faith, in love and service for Christ. You are part of a team in your unit… you are not working alone as an officer or mission coordinator.
I’d like to close with one final scripture from Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or seek, according to his power that is at work within us,21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Let us pray,
Lord, we are grateful for this day of training as we come together to learn more about the tasks we have been given for next year. Grant us the ability to embrace with enthusiasm the supporting roles to which He has called us. Help us see and encourage the interests and talents of others, not only of our own, Father. To God be Hisglory, and not our own! In the name of Jesus Christ whom we follow, we pray, Amen.