Sunday, May 31, 2015

Jesus Chooses His Apostles

 12 At that time Jesus went off to a mountain to pray, and he spent the night praying to God. 13 The next morning, Jesus called his followers to him and chose twelve of them, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon (Jesus named him Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon (called the Zealot), 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who later turned Jesus over to his enemies. Luke 6:12-16, New Century Version

I’ve been working on my next devotional. I’m not sure about the title yet, but it will be 40 days of reading about how Jesus began His ministry and how He called His apostles.

I picture a group of a hundred people, all men and women who have been following Christ, all anxious to hear Him speak and witness His miracles. Jesus looks over the crowd and begins calling names. (“Simon, come on down!”) Did these men know what they were getting into?

As I read over this list of names, I started looking up more facts on these twelve men. All but one were originally fishermen. Quite a few of them were related and many of them knew each other before meeting Jesus. Some of them had families. But every one of them gave up everything they had to become the closest friends of Jesus. All but one of them died tragic deaths. 

If Jesus called your name would you answer? Has He already called your name?


Lord God, thank You for sending Your Son to live among us and to sacrifice His life for us. Lord, send the Holy Spirit into our lives so that when Jesus calls our names we are ready to follow. Amen. 



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