Bigger things are found in the waiting

How much longer, Lord, will you forget about me? Will it be forever? How long will you hide? How long must I be confused and miserable all day? How long will my enemies keep beating me down? (Psalm 13:1-2)

If you have ever asked, "Are we there yet?", you know the question is not one of patience, but of impatience. We want all the good stuff, but we don't like the time between the vision and its fulfillment. The vision is easy for us to comprehend, but all the stuff that happens between the vision and the fulness of its completion is much harder for us to understand. We want to 'be there', but God has some work to do in us, around us, or through us before we 'get there'.

In those 'in between' times while we await the fulfillment of the vision, it is not uncommon for us to begin to question if we got the vision right. In other words, we begin to question God's purpose in the wait. We think he has withdrawn from us, is hiding himself from us, or that he isn't concerned that others are 'beating us down' by constantly telling us the vision probably wasn't from God. The more we begin to doubt, questioning his authority and timing, the more we will move from hope into despair.

God won't forget about us. His delay will not be forever. He isn't in hiding. We might be a little confused, but if we ask for wisdom, God is sure to give it. Our misery is of concern to him because it indicates we aren't really trusting him with the 'timing' and maybe not even for the 'outcome'. While we wait, he is at work. Do we always see his hand working in our lives? No, most of the time we do not. We can look back and see the ways he orchestrated things, but we really don't see them all that clearly while we are in the midst of them.

Does God get put off when we ask him 'how much longer'? I don't think he does, but don't be surprised if he begins to teach another lesson along the way. I have discovered that the time between the vision and its fulfillment can be some of the greatest time God has to get me focused, listening intently, and seeing things clearer, but I have to allow him to use that time. How about you? Are you willing to allow God to use that 'waiting time' to accomplish big things in you? Just askin!

What has God prepared for you?

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. (I Corinthians 2:9-12)

What can you imagine with your mind's eye? Is it something grand and glorious, or are those imaginations limited by what you perceive to be your 'talents', 'abilities', or 'treasures'? We sometimes 'dream big', but when it comes to actually believing in what we see with our mind's eye, we discount the possibility of it ever coming to pass. It isn't that we are to 'dream' things into existence, but when God plants a vision within our heart, we are to do all we can to see his purposes come to pass. That could mean our faith is challenged a bit, because we don't know fully what he will be doing in and through us, but it doesn't mean we just sit there and let the dream pass us by. We give ourselves fully to the vision and then see what God will work out in the areas where we lack talent, ability, or treasure!

God's deepest secrets for each of us are realized when we say "YES" to Jesus. His Spirit's presence within us isn't there to give us 'visions' and then to allow us to falter as we step out in faith. If we think too long on what God asks us to do, we will begin to 'falter' in our steps, though. We will lose the momentum created by the vision or dream. If you want to see God's best in your life, you act upon what he places in your heart to the best of your ability and then allow him to work out the rest. Does that mean we will see instantly what he has purposed or planned for us? Not always, because there are times when the vision needs a bit of time to develop within us. We aren't fully at the point where he can bring everything to pass right at that moment - we need to allow him to develop our character so we can really engage with his purposes fully.

We see in part, while he sees the bigger picture. We possess some of the talent, while he will need to infuse that talent with his supernatural ability. We aren't 'fulfilling the dream' - we are just participating as active partakers in the vision in whatever way he asks of each of us. Does that make us a little uneasy at times? Yes, simply because we don't always feel like we are 'in step' with him, especially when we don't feel we possess the talent, ability, or treasure required. I have learned that the vision or dream gives isn't always going to match my feelings, though. Sometimes it is much bigger than I 'feel', while at others, it is much smaller. When it is much smaller than I might 'feel' like it should be, I have never been disappointed, though. Why? The smaller dreams seem to set us up for some other dream down the road.

We might not fully understand God's heart at the moment, but when we take the big or small vision he gives and place it in his capable hands, we begin to see God's expansive goodness and grace at work in and through us. As God tells us, "People without a vision perish". The dream is important - don't discount it - embrace it! It might be a tiny step that leads to the biggest 'achievement' we could ever imagine! Just sayin!

Step forward in boldness, not blindness

“Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.” “You were born a total sinner!” they answered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue. (John 9:30-34)

It is a rather long story, but I will shorten it a bit for us today. A man born blind just 'happened' to be sitting by the roadside as Jesus came by one day. Jesus made mud with a little spit and some dirt, rubbed it on his eyes, told him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam, and he came back with his total sight restored. He tells the Pharisees and religious leaders, but they are aghast that anyone would do such a thing on the Sabbath. They send for his parents, even though he was a grown man, asking if he was really born blind. There is no doubt he was blind, but now has totally restored eyesight. The miracle was lost on the religious leaders, for all they could see was that the healing was done on a Sabbath day - a day when no work of any kind was to be performed. Aye! What a silly lot we are at times! We get so focused on the stuff that doesn't really matter and miss the 'huge' thing God is doing right in front of us. 

The most amazing part of this story is this man's response to the 'learned leaders' of the day. His response is a challenge to their unbelief - something I wonder if he would have ever tried to do if he wasn't first touched by Jesus. If he were not from God - - - that statement probably ruffled more than one feather. All the leaders can see is that the man is 'unlearned' and a 'sinner', so he is incapable of teaching them anything. It is a sad, sad day when a life touched by God is judged by one's past and not seen for the magnificence it has once filled with grace and love. When we discount the work of God in a person's life, no matter how 'crude' or 'unlearned' that person may be, we are dismissing the power of God's grace. To dismiss grace is a very dangerous thing, indeed!

It warms my heart to know that God can take the 'rawest' of a life and use it for his glory. We don't need to be well-educated, or even super-talented to be used to bring truth and light into this world. We just need to be willing to step forward in boldness to declare the work he has done within us. To some, the work he has begun within doesn't seem to be 'complete', so they fear their message won't matter. This man had his eyesight for a mere matter of minutes before he began to boldly challenge the beliefs of those who were supposed to be the most 'learned' amongst the people. Not with haughty intent or prideful anger, but with sympathy for their lack of vision. One who now had vision challenged those who should have had the most vision. Amazing how God works, huh? Just sayin!

That isn't what I thought I saw

Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction. (Psalm 29:18)

Many of us think of 'vision' as the ability to see with our eyes. When it is not there, such as when we have been plunged into darkness by someone covering our eyes with a blindfold, we grope our way through life, don't we? We have to rely upon our other senses or else we will stumble. How well do you move in this state of total darkness? Are your movements as fluid as normal? Not likely - you probably take shorter steps, feeling your way to make sure your footing is solid before you even take the next one. I think we sometimes approach our spiritual life this same way - with a "blindfold" of sorts making us "stumble along" with uncertainty and a lack of vision. Vision is more than what we see with our eyes - it is what we hope in our hearts, understand with our minds, and sense in our spirit. Perception and discernment - the combined form of actually "seeing" and "knowing". If you have ever seen something, but then had to ponder for a while what the thing was you were beholding, you might know what it is like to possess sight without understanding. If you can interpret the general shape of an object while blindfolded, you might be able to guess at what it is you are not seeing, but you might not know for sure. Perception and discernment go hand-in-hand. They are God's way of helping us not only walk, but to do so with assurance and firm foundation.

Perception is the ability of the mind to actually apprehend an idea - we call this cognition. Discernment is the ability to put some "discriminating thought" into what it is we perceive. In other words, we can make some "judgment" based on what we know. We are reminded that without vision a people perish. In other words, when we don't have a clear perception of the redemptive work of Christ in our lives, we stumble around a lot. We need to apprehend (comprehend) the redemptive work of Christ - making us new creations in him. We give a lot of "lip-service" to this idea of being new creatures in Christ, but I wonder how many of us are really wearing our blindfolds and just stumbling along trying to perceive, but having our perception blocked by the self-imposed blindfold. Open your eyes with a blindfold on and what do you see? The blindfold! With the blindfold in place, we only have "internal reminders" of the things we previously perceived. We stumble around the furnishings because we remember their general shape, size, and likely location. We don't actually see them, but we recall what it is we know about them in order to avoid them. I wonder how many "hazards" in life we merely stumble around, blindfold in place, simply with the use of our "internal reminders" of them being there? The memories we form might give us a perception of the way things "were", but the ability to discern how they "are" now is only possible when the blindfold is removed by the grace of God's work in our lives.

The purpose of the blindfold is to impair the awareness or clear thinking of the one who is wearing it. When we put a blindfold on a child, spin him around, and then send him toward the picture of the donkey on the wall with a little "tail" to pin on it, how does the child respond? It becomes clear that his awareness of his surroundings is altered by the blindfold and his disorientation as to where he 'stopped' when he launched forward to pin the tail. He doesn't think clearly, but blindly walks forward (at least he thinks he is walking forward) and aims at whatever he comes into contact with. The danger is the tail may get "pinned" where it doesn't belong! Awareness or clear thinking are necessary in order to perceive. Until we have clear thinking, the thing we "think" we perceive will be only based on what it is we have formed an internal reminder about in our memory. Vision is the ability to have clear thinking and awareness of the redemptive work Christ is doing and has done in us. The redemptive work began at the moment we welcomed Jesus into our lives as our Savior. The work continues each day until we reach perfection in Christ Jesus. Since none of us are there yet, I believe we need to continually ask him to help us remove the blindfold from our eyes, so we see clearly what he desires to do in every area of our lives. We can stumble around with past memories (internal reminders), or we can get a fresh perceptive. The choice is ours. I think it is time to begin to ask God to remove some of the blindfolds we might have just kept on because we were afraid of the light! Light exposes, but once it does, the internal reminders are free to be understood exactly for what they are - past perceptions which need not influence our present reality! Just sayin!

Peripheral vision

We all have those 'aha' moments when we realize what we 'thought' was being said was not at all about us! We somehow "think" someone is talking about us, so when we are asked our opinion based on just a little bit of knowledge of the gist of the conversation, we begin to launch into some answer which makes us look great (at least in our own eyes) and based on what we 'think' someone has been talking about? Then, as quickly as we began to speak, we find ourselves caught off-guard when we realize we had no clue what they were talking about or asking us! There are times when someone is bragging on someone else and we just assume (unwisely) they must be talking about us! That little bit of 'mistaken' truth leaves us more than a little embarrassed to find out that everything others think and talk about isn't actually all about us - even though we 'thought' maybe it was. Haman found himself in just such a spot - entering the king's court, hearing only half of a conversation being spoken, and thinking it must be all about him.

When Haman entered, the king said, "What would be appropriate for the man the king especially wants to honor?" Haman thought to himself, "He must be talking about honoring me— who else?" So he answered the king, "For the man the king delights to honor, do this: Bring a royal robe that the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crown on its head. Then give the robe and the horse to one of the king's most noble princes. Have him robe the man whom the king especially wants to honor; have the prince lead him on horseback through the city square, proclaiming before him, 'This is what is done for the man whom the king especially wants to honor!'" (Esther 6:6-9)

It is a pretty ridiculous thing to be so full of ourselves, fully consumed by our own pride, isn't it? Whenever we see "us" as the center of the universe, we are headed for a sure and certain fall! The universe does not always rotate around "us" - in fact, it rarely does! Haman wanted Mordecai out of the way - not paraded through the city streets on a horse dressed in regal attire - what a blow to Haman's pride that revelation must have been. He imagined the king could have no other "favorite" than him. Imagine his surprise when he discovers there are actually other people in this world of importance to the king! Sometimes I think we approach God in just this way - we imagine "us" as the center of his great big universe! In fact, we hope and pray everything will always rotate around us in his world! Sadly, we find we are not in the right place at the center of God's universe! The real center of the universe is God - not us - things rotate around him, not the other way around.

One thing is for sure - whenever my eyes are on me, I don't see you! When my eyes are on me I also don't see God! Regardless of how hard we try, we can only really "behold" one thing at a time. Sure, there are things in our periphery vision, but they are just that - "in the periphery". They are not the true object of our focus. The real truth is God is never content with just being in "the periphery" of our lives, my friends. I think this is what Jesus had in mind when he told us it was impossible to serve two "gods" - God and mammon. Either money is in our focus, or God is; either that career is, or God is; either our leisure is, or God is. One or the other is really in the periphery - no two things dwell together in equal focus! Try it. Put your coffee cup in front of you on a napkin. Then put your spoon on the napkin. Take a good hard look at them. You will either see the cup, the spoon or the napkin - all three are in the "picture" together, but only one is in focus at a time.

What we focus on the most determines our course. If we focus on the cup, we likely will crave the coffee. If we focus on the napkin, we will think less of the coffee, and more of the protection it provides to the desk against the tiny drops of moisture which could destroy the finish if coffee gets on it. If the spoon is the object of our attention - sparkling in its glittery brilliance - we will not remember the combined sweetness and bitterness of the coffee it stirred just a short while before. Silly illustration, I know, but....it speaks to the truth - one object is all we can truly keep in focus at a time. How hard do we have to work to keep the correct focus in life? Probably pretty hard! Focus is tough - it is a learned thing. I know when I learned to shoot a semi-automatic rifle, focus on the target through the tiny aiming device on the end of the rifle was the hardest thing to learn. Yet, in the end, I became an expert marksman. So, it is possible to refine our focus! What's in your focus this morning? What is in the periphery? Does your focus need to change? Always remember this: Your focus determines your destiny! Just sayin!

Remove the blindfold

Vision - most of us think of this as the ability to see.  When it is not there, such as when we have been plunged into darkness by someone covering our eyes with a blindfold, we grope our way through life, don't we?  It is as though we have to rely upon our other senses or else we will stumble.  How well do you move in this state?  Are your movements as fluid as normal?  Not likely.  In fact, you probably take shorter steps, feeling your way to make sure your footing is solid before you even take the next one.  I think we sometimes approach our spiritual life this same way - with a "blindfold" of sorts making us "stumble along" with uncertainty and a lack of vision.

Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction. (Psalm 29:18 NIV)

Two words come to mind when I think of vision: Perception and Discernment.  It is the combined form of actually "seeing" and "knowing".  If you have ever seen something, but then had to ponder for a while what the thing was you were beholding, you might know what it is like to possess sight without understanding.  If you can interpret the general shape of an object while blindfolded, you might be able to guess at what it is you are not seeing, but you might not know for sure.  Perception and discernment go hand-in-hand.  They are God's way of helping us not only walk, but to do so with assurance and firm foundation.

Perception is the ability of the mind to actually apprehend an idea - we call this cognition.  Discernment is the ability to put some "discriminating thought" into what it is you perceive.  In other words, you can make some "judgment" based on what you know.  Our passage today reminds us without vision a people perish.  In other words, when we don't have a clear perception of the redemptive work of Christ in our lives, we stumble around a lot.  We need to apprehend (comprehend) the redemptive work of Christ - making us new creations in him.  We give a lot of "lip-service" to this idea of being new creatures in Christ, but I wonder how many of us are really wearing our blindfolds and just stumbling along trying to perceive, but having our perception blocked by the blindfold.  

Open you eyes with a blindfold on and what do you see?  The blindfold!  At best, with the blindfold in place, we only have "internal reminders" of the things we perceive.  In other words, we stumble around the furnishings because we remember their general shape and size.  We don't actually see them, but we recall what it is we know about them in order to avoid them.  I wonder how many "hazards" in life we merely stumble around, blindfold in place, simply with the use of our "internal reminders" of them being there?  The memories we form might give us a perception of the way things "were", but the ability to discern how they "are" now is only possible when the blindfold is removed by the grace of God's work in our lives.  

The purpose of the blindfold is to impair the awareness or clear thinking of the one who is wearing it.  When we put a blindfold on a child, spin him around, and then send him toward the picture of the donkey on the wall with a little "tail" to pin on it, how does the child respond?  It soon becomes evident his awareness of his surroundings is altered by the blindfold.  He doesn't think clearly, but blindly walks forward (at least he thinks he is walking forward) and aims at whatever he comes into contact with.  The danger is the tail may get "pinned" where it doesn't belong!  Awareness or clear thinking are necessary in order to perceive.  Until you have clear thinking, the thing you "think" you perceive will be only based on what it is you have formed an internal reminder about in your memory.

Vision is our "V" List trait - the ability to have clear thinking and awareness of the redemptive work Christ is doing and has done in us.  The redemptive work began at the moment we welcomed Jesus into our lives as our Savior.  The work continues each day until we reach perfection in Christ Jesus.  Since none of us are there yet, I believe we need to continually ask him to help us remove the blindfold from our eyes so we see clearly what he desires to do in every area of our lives.  We can stumble around with past memories (internal reminders), or we can get a fresh perceptive.  The choice is ours.  I think it is time to begin to ask God to remove some of the blindfolds we might have just kept on because we were afraid of the light!  Light exposes, but once it does, the internal reminders are free to be understood exactly for what they are - past perceptions which need not influence our present reality!  Just sayin!

Our five senses

^9-10He said, "Go and tell this people:  "'Listen hard, but you aren't going to get it; look hard, but you won't catch on.'  Make these people blockheads, with fingers in their ears and blindfolds on their eyes, so they won't see a thing, won't hear a word, so they won't have a clue about what's going on    and, yes, so they won't turn around and be made whole."

(Isaiah 6:9-10)

Imagine the surprise in Isaiah's eyes when he hears these words from the one who has just called and anointed him to be the prophet to the nation of Israel.  He has stepped forward, hearing the call of God, in obedience....and this is the first message he is told to deliver to the people!  No easy calling here!  I think I would be reconsidering if I took one step backward when everyone was taking one forward!  

Isaiah is asked to bring the message that reveals the heart and spirit of the nation - you listen, but you don't hear; you see, but you don't have clarity in your vision; you deliberately stifle my voice and block my vision.  Wow!  Not an easy message right out of the shoot!  I'd like us to consider something this morning - the power of our senses in the ability to perceive.

For those who are sighted, vision is a thing we take for granted.  For those who have never seen, vision is a thing that is not understood.  For those who have sight failing, the loss is astronomical!  What once was clear suddenly (or gradually) becomes clouded, shaded, and difficult to interpret with our sense of vision.  We call that person "blind".  In the spiritual sense, blindness is equated to the inability to be conscious or aware of your surrounding, events, or self.

For those who have the ability to hear, that ability is a tool whereby we take in information (often without even realizing we are - like background noise).  We use this sense to supplement our other senses - if we cannot see well, we know the location of an individual merely by the sound of their voice, using what we hear to help us interpret our surroundings.  In a spiritual sense, the lack of hearing is equated to being unreasonable, self-determined, and unyielding.

For those who can taste, the enjoyment of food is quite a blessing.  The sweetness or saltiness of an item can alert our taste buds to interpret what it is we are experiencing.  We get pleasure (or displeasure) out of what we take into our bodies via our mouth.  To the one who has lost their sense of taste, food is bland, and the experience of taking it in is no longer enjoyable.  In a spiritual sense, when we no longer enjoy what we are taking in, we are like the one who is losing their sense of taste.  God tells us that his Word is like honey - sweet, pleasurable, and life-giving.  To lose that sense of enjoyment is to lose a special thing.

For those with the ability to touch and feel what it is they are in contact with, the moment of touch can be both an enjoyable experience and a sense of warning of danger.  Touch alerts us to things that may not be good for us - as in when we sense heat from the stove.  Touch also brings great pleasure when it is received at the end of a difficult day (as in a hug or a pat on the back).  It can also help to guide us.  In a spiritual sense, losing our ability to sense the touch of God on our lives leads to us going our own way, living by our own rules, and isolating ourselves from what can bring total healing.

The last sense we could examine this morning is that of smell.  It is in this sense that we interpret the enjoyable odors of life (like the blooming rose or the fresh cut grass).  It is also this sense that gives us an awareness of those things not so pleasant (like the odors of the landfill or rotting food).  Both give us an awareness of our surroundings, alerting us to things we both might find enjoyment in experiencing, or want to avoid if we don't want to have the displeasure associated with the negative odors we are interpreting.  In a spiritual sense, when we experience God fully, there is a sweetness to his presence that our senses all take in.  

No wonder God focuses Isaiah on the senses of seeing and hearing!  The senses do so much to assist in us knowing that God is real, he is present, and that his is moving in our midst.  Even one sense out of use in our lives can greatly impact how we interpret what is happening around us - especially in the spiritual realm.  So, tune up your senses!  They were given for a reason!

Looking through waxed paper

²⁰ My child, pay attention to what I say.
      Listen carefully to my words.
 ²¹ Don’t lose sight of them.
      Let them penetrate deep into your heart,
 ²² for they bring life to those who find them,
      and healing to their whole body.

(Proverbs 4:20-22)

Many of us take our "sight" for granted.  We simply "expect" to see.  For those of us with "weakened" vision (requiring glasses or contacts for clarity), we may experience an element of sight without a clarity of sight.  Without the use of the assistive devices we are dependent on to bring that "clarity" to our sight, we see the world as a blur.  For an individual going blind, like my mother, the "clarity" of their world is impacted by not only the revelation that they cannot see clearly, but that they can no longer see things they once enjoyed seeing.

We often take for granted that someone who is "functioning" at a fairly high level of "productivity" is really okay.  For example:  Mom "appears" to be "okay" because she can maneuver around the house, the store, or the restaurant without a white cane or a seeing-eyed dog.  The reality is that she only sees shadows of the former images she once beheld so clearly.  The smile or frown on our faces is no longer what she sees - the image has been blurred by the disease that is taking her sight.

The same is true in our spiritual walk.  We see individuals "functioning" at what we interpret to be a pretty "high level".  We see them at church, family in tow, singing the songs, listening to the sermon, and even shaking a few hands when service is over.  We run into them at the mall, shopping for much needed wardrobe items or a new set of sheets.  All looks "normal" to us.  Yet, deep inside, the individual may be losing their "clarity" of purpose, "clarity" of perspective, or "clarity" of peace.

We don't take time to really listen to the others in our lives - getting a true grasp on how they are "seeing" life at this very moment.  More importantly, we aren't honest enough to share with others how it is that our own "clarity" is being taken from us!  We allow the "appearance" of being "okay" be what the world sees.  In turn, there is no help for us when our purpose has been clouded by things and circumstances that no longer give meaning to our lives.  We don't see that our choices have clouded our perspective on life, allowing us to "filter" all of life through faulty filters.

We don't wear signs around our necks announcing that we have lost perspective!  We don't advertise in the local papers that we have no sense of purpose in life!  We certainly don't admit to having no peace in our lives!  But...there are "signs" we display - withdrawal, constant discontent, frustration, outbursts, negativity, etc.  We need to become skilled at seeing the signs others display.  When we recognize them, we need to become the type of friends that will come alongside, lending a listening ear, a helping hand, or an open heart.  

Our natural vision may slip away, but our spiritual vision need not!  We just need to have the honesty to admit it has, and the sensitivity to accept the assist of another to help us out of that "dark place".

See for yourself

"Come along and see for yourself."

(John 1:39)

The book of John opens with a calling of the disciples - the intimate twelve that would become the inner circle of companions to follow in his footsteps, learn of his teachings, and be support in his times of trial.  In looking at the call to become a disciple, I see that words, "Come along and see for yourself."  Jesus was not in the business of convincing these men to follow him - leaving all they had to follow along in his ministry.  Instead, he asked for them to decide for themselves what it was that he proclaimed as truth.

As I considered these words, several things came to mind:

• Discipleship requires us turning our attention from what it is we are doing at the moment towards the Great Teacher, Jesus.  These fishermen, tax collectors, and tradesmen had to specifically turn from what they were doing to follow Jesus.  This was no easy matter for them - their entire livelihood was affected by this one matter of redirecting their attention.  The same is true for us today.  We turn from what we have been involved in toward a newness of life, mission, and purpose.
• Discipleship requires following.  Sometimes, we think of those that are "followers" in a negative manner - seeing them as weak, unable to make their own decisions, and not able to really step up to lead.  In Jesus' eyes, the one who followed him could take no greater "stand" in life.  These men were laying down their "right" to be self-directed men.  They were actually exchanging the role of "independent" to dependent.  Following suggests the exchange of being "self-governed" to the submissive place of being "Christ-governed".
• Discipleship requires finding and aligning yourself with others that will "turn and follow".  There is a sharing in the message, in the work of the gospel that brings meaning to this new life.  It is in walking with others that we see the proof of what it is to experience Christ.  
• Discipleship requires obedience.  Jesus asked them to lay down their nets - that which they were the most familiar with - and take up a new pursuit.  This was not the same for them.  They were expected to step out of the ordinary into the extraordinary.  Their place of familiarity with what it was they were doing was being transitioned - they were moving into a place where everything was new, fresh, and vital.  This would be a place of learning for them. 
• Discipleship requires coming to "see for yourself".  They could have stayed on the shore, mending their nets, or in the tax house, recounting their money.  But...they didn't.  They were not willing to have a second-hand experience.  They wanted to see it all for themselves.  Some might label this a sense of curiosity.  Others might see it as a sense of daring.  Whatever it was, they saw something that intrigued them and excited them to action.
• Discipleship requires an openness to the newness of revelation that God will give.  Nothing matters more in our process of learning than our willingness to learn.  When we are "open" to learning, there is much to be taught.

The call was one of "coming to see for themselves" - stepping outside of their comfort zones and into a place where not everything was "sure", or "planned in advance".  In the movement away from their "comfort zones" they would experience revelation greater than they'd ever imagined.  It is as we answer the call to "come and see for yourself" that we are expanded in our revelation!