Press the arrow to listen to Casting Crowns sing Love Them Like Jesus while you read today’s devotion.

Scripture
Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him. Matthew 4:19-20

Observation
What kind of bait will catch fishermen? With one sentence, Jesus managed to persuade small businessmen to shut up shop and trek with him. What kind of lure did he pull from his vest?

Jesus didn’t use the fly we’d expect. Something along the line of “follow-me-and-I’ll-make-you-the-best-you-that-you-can-be” I think would be very appealing. However, Jesus did not use any self-development pitch. He pulled a surprise from his fishin’ bag.

Jesus offered the disciples the secret of changing others. That was all it took; they were hooked. I’m left staggered by the simplicity and selflessness of the call of Jesus. The call to follow Christ isn’t about me, it’s about changing others through my life. Of course, I will be changed in the process, but improving my life is not what discipleship is about. The heart of discipling is to make a difference in the life of another human being for all eternity. If that doesn’t appeal to me, then I’m not worthy of Christ, yet why wouldn’t it be attractive?

Application
If I were to offer to the public an indelible writing surface, on which any message could be etched to endure for ages, many would be interested.
It would not weather like the Sphinx,
or burn like the library books of Alexandria,
or topple like tombstones,
or fade like pencil,
or bleed like ink,
or crash like a computer,
or erase like a memory stick,
or crack like a CD.
No graffiti artist can obscure it,
nor army can bomb it,
nor flood, storm or fire can remove its memory forever.
Whatever is written on this surface will make an author’s words immortal.

Where is a permanent surface like this to be found? It is on the human heart, of course. Any word spoken for Christ and received by a child of God will last forever. Any change in a human life for Christ will be taken to heaven for eternity. This is why becoming a follower of Christ is so alluring, for only Christ-followers can do works that last forever.

Prayer
Father, this sounds like a very good deal. I’ll follow you Jesus into to crowd; let’s get going. Amen.

Scripture

Job continued speaking:
“I long for the years gone by
when God took care of me,
when he lit up the way before me
and I walked safely through the darkness.
When I was in my prime,
God’s friendship was felt in my home.
The Almighty was still with me,
and my children were around me. Job 29:1-5

Observation
Some people view life like a snapshot and others know that life is really more like a movie.

Snapshot people take the golden moments of their lives, capture the memory an ideal picture, wrap it in a gilded frame and hang it in a place of honor. It may be a memory of when their children were little before the nest emptied. Or there may be memories of life before parents died or a particular home or a wedding day, or frat house or high school days or whatever life season that was filled with warmth, laughter, prosperity and respect. Snapshot people think the old days were the best days. When they look at the current life they lead that exists around the snapshot they feel sad. If only they could somehow enter back into the framed picture and live those days again they would be so happy.

People who see life not as a snapshot but as a movie know that the only permanent thing in life is change. Life is not a frozen photo moment, instead life is living and it is one the move like a movie. People come, people go, money comes, money goes, heath comes, health goes, jobs come, jobs go, honor comes, honor goes. Frame by frame life flows on. No one flickering moment defines a whole life.

Movie people are realistic. When a golden moment comes they know that it cannot be clenched forever. The scene can be enjoyed but the movie moves on. But they also know that because a movie is moving they are never stuck with the disappointing episodes. The reel is moving on. If they will keep munching their popcorn something new is up ahead. The current disappointments will make the future segments that much more interesting and enjoyable.

When we read the book of Job we know how the movie ends, but Job does not. He is in the middle. He wants to push the rewind button and put his life on pause at family moments so he can frame the golden moments. But if he will be patient and let the movie move forward he will discover that the end is better than the beginning. The best is yet to come.

Every movie comes to a resolution of the closing scene when the plot resolves itself. In fact it happens with every well-written book too. Plot has development, climax and resolution. I’ve often pondered as I’ve finished a movie why it is that everything works out in the end. I’ve come to the conclusion that the resolving of every movie and story is one of the hints in life that God does exist. As the Bible says, “He makes all things beautiful in his time.” God is the master story teller. His writing paper is life, his pen are human lives and our footprints leave the ink trails on the paper that record the story. Movies and novels are a human attempt to emulate the story telling of God. But the real story is happening in your life and mine.

Application
If I delete a snapshot view of life and instead accept that life is a movie then I can learn to be patient to hold on to see how things will work out. Too often I camp in old life moments and refuse to keep moving on. I have not yet lived my best day. The best is yet to come. I wonder if Job lived differently after his family picture was restored to him? I hope so and think so. An experience like his would have changed me. Instead of living in the past, I must enjoy the present knowing that God is developing the plot of my life to a surprise ending.

Prayer
Father, there are old days I’d like to live again but I cannot. Help me to enjoy what you have given me today and I look forward to the best that is yet to come. In the end I know I will end up in heaven and all my life is leading there. At home in heaven I will have one thing in common with every person there. For as I tell the story of my life to bystanders on the streets of gold, my story will end with the same line that theirs will, “And then I ended up here.” The best really is yet to come. I give you the freedom to keep the film of my life playing right to the end. I won’t hit pause and live in the past. I’m ready to move on.