Following Jesus Before You Feel Ready

 
(A Pastor’s Reflections on Matthew 4:18–22)

Every week I climb into a semi truck and drive Washington’s highways. I’ve done it for over 30 years. It’s big, it’s loud, and there are moments when it’s genuinely scary—but it’s familiar. I know what I’m doing.

Stepping onto the platform on Sunday mornings is the opposite.

My hands don’t smell like diesel, but my heart pounds a little harder. I don’t fear public speaking. What I fear is getting in God’s way. I feel the weight of knowing that, in some mysterious way, God wants to use my very ordinary words and very ordinary life to do something in your very real one.

And most weeks, if I’m honest, I don’t feel ready.

Which is exactly why Matthew 4:18–22 has gripped me recently.

> “While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother… And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him…  
> Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”  
> (Matthew 4:18–22, ESV)

When Jesus Walks Into an Ordinary Workday

We tend to imagine “spiritual moments” happening in obviously spiritual places: church, retreats, prayer nights, worship services.

But Peter and Andrew weren’t on a retreat.  
James and John weren’t in a prayer meeting.

They were at work.  
Smelling like fish.  
Doing what they did every single day.

No one had advertised an opening: “Disciple of Messiah – Apply Within.”  
They weren’t seeking him. Jesus sought them.

As a pastor, I need to remember this just as much as anyone else: most of what God wants to do in us will happen in the middle of ordinary life, not just in “spiritual environments.”

- In the office, mid-email.  
- In the kitchen, making lunch.  
- In the truck, on the highway.  
- In the classroom, or the shop, or the fields.

Jesus walks into ordinary Tuesdays and says, “Follow me.”

Jesus Chooses Before We’re “Qualified”

In the first century, rabbis didn’t usually recruit. Students applied. Only the best of the best were accepted to follow a rabbi—like a competitive apprenticeship program.

These fishermen had already washed out of that track. They were in the family business. Which, in that culture, almost certainly meant, “You’re good kids, but you’re not rabbi material.”

And yet Jesus walks up to *them*.

He doesn’t say:

- “Show me your qualifications.”  
- “Fix your life, then come back.”  
- “Clean up your theology first.”  

He simply says, “Follow me.”

This is incredibly important:  
Discipleship does *not* begin with us proving ourselves. It begins with Jesus choosing and inviting.

As a pastor, I see so many people stalled right here. They think:

- “Once I beat this sin habit…”  
- “Once I learn more Bible…”  
- “Once I’m more consistent…”  

…*then* I’ll really follow Jesus.

But Jesus didn’t wait for Peter to finish cussing, or for James and John to overcome their temper and pride. He called them mid-process. And he does the same with us.

 Immediately… and Costly

Twice Matthew uses the same word:

> “Immediately they left their nets…”  
> “Immediately they left the boat and their father…”

He wants us to see the urgency of their response.

That doesn’t mean they were reckless or irresponsible. It means Jesus’ call brought clarity. Not clarity about the future, but clarity about *who* was now at the center of their future.

They left:

- Nets (their income)  
- Boats (their business)  
- Father (their expectations and security)  

Not because those things were bad, but because Jesus now took priority over all of them.

We need to be clear on this:  
Following Jesus is free, but it is not cheap.

Grace is a gift. You cannot earn it.  
But grace always leads to surrender. It rearranges priorities.

For some, that will mean:

- Changing how you work, not necessarily *where* you work.  
- Reordering your schedule.  
- Letting go of a habit or relationship you know is pulling you away from Christ.  
- Saying “yes” to something you’ve been resisting because it’s uncomfortable.

Following Jesus doesn’t always mean leaving your job.  
But it *always* means reordering your life.

“Follow Me, and I Will Make You…”

This is the line that undoes me as a pastor:

> “Follow me, and **I will make you** fishers of men.”

Notice the order:

- He does *not* say, “Make yourself into something, then follow me.”  
- He does *not* say, “Prove you’re ready, then I’ll use you.”  
- He says, “Follow me, and I will make you…”

Discipleship begins with response, not readiness.

My temptation—maybe yours too—is to treat discipleship like spiritual self-improvement:

- read more  
- pray harder  
- serve more  
- try better  
- clean up faster  

But Jesus frames it differently. Discipleship is not primarily about self-improvement. It’s about *formation through relationship*.

They became like Jesus by:

- walking with him  
- watching him  
- listening to him  
- obeying him (imperfectly, often slowly)

No 12-week course. No quick certificate. No instant maturity.

Just time with Jesus, over time.

### Slow Growth, Real Formation

Peter didn’t become “Peter” overnight.  
John didn’t become “the apostle of love” in a weekend.

Read the Gospels and you’ll find:

- misunderstandings  
- bad questions  
- pride  
- fear  
- jealousy  

If they’d been part of our church, we’d have been tempted to say, “I don’t think they’re ready to lead anything yet.”

And Jesus kept walking with them.

As a pastor, I cling to that. Because I see my own slowness, my own blind spots, my own failures. And if I’m watching your life even a little closely, I see yours too. We’re all in process.

Jesus is not surprised by slow growth.  
He is committed to faithful formation.

Which is why we keep inviting each other into discipleship pathways—real relationships where we walk with Jesus together, not as a program to finish, but as a life to live.

 An “I See in You” Conversation From Jesus

One of the first times I served in church leadership, I was 26, taking over as treasurer from a man who had done it longer than I’d been alive. I was intimidated, convinced someone would ask a question that exposed how much I didn’t know.

I didn’t feel ready. Others saw something in me I didn’t see. They had an “I see in you…” conversation with me—long before I imagined ever standing in a pulpit.

Matthew 4 is Jesus having an “I see in you” conversation with fishermen.

- Peter just sees nets and fish. Jesus sees a preacher at Pentecost.  
- John just sees a boat and his dad. Jesus sees a man who will one day write, “For God so loved the world…”  

Jesus sees what we can become long before we do.

He sees you fully—what you show people and what you never say out loud.  
Your history. Your sin. Your fear. Your desire to change. Your reluctance.  

And he still says, “Follow me. I will make you.”

Not, “Make yourself.”  
Not, “Prove yourself.”  
“Follow me, and I will make you.”

So What Is Your Next Step?

The real question isn’t, “Am I ready?”

The real question is, “What is my *next* step of following Jesus?”

Not the whole journey. Just the next step.

For you, that might look like:

- Finally surrendering your life to Jesus for the first time.  
- Coming back after drifting or running.  
- Letting go of a habit you know is sin but you’ve been excusing.  
- Stepping into community instead of following Jesus alone.  
- Serving in a way that scares you a bit.  
- Opening your Bible daily and actually listening.  
- Having a hard conversation in obedience to him.

You may not feel ready.  
You may not know how it will turn out.  
You almost certainly will not have all the answers.

But you *do* know who is inviting you.

The same Jesus who walked along the Sea of Galilee and called fishermen is still walking into ordinary Tuesdays and calling people like you and me.

And his invitation is the same:

“Follow me… and I will make you.”

Not when you’ve cleaned up.  
Not when you’ve arrived.  
Now.

So from one ordinary person to another, from a pastor who often feels unready himself:

Don’t wait until you feel qualified.

Ask him, honestly:

“Jesus, what is my next step of following you?”

And when he brings something to mind, don’t overcomplicate it.

Take it.

Immediately.