As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
Matthew 9:9
This week during our pastoral meeting, we were talking about some of the plans and purposes God has been putting on our hearts for the future. In the midst of that, we also had a chance to look back on the journey God has taken us on as individuals. We shared about some of the moments we’ve had with God in the past, and why they were so significant for us.
Many of us have experienced moments on our faith journey that were truly life changing and set us on a course for God. I’m sure you can probably remember at least 1 or 2 significant moments that really shaped you into the person you are today. Those moments where God broke through or spoke to you in a new way are unforgettable and precious. They helped to build our faith, and showed us just how amazing God’s work is in our lives.
But there’s another quality to our faith that’s needed for our journey if we want to stay in step with God. Hebrews 12: 1-3 reminds us that faith is like running a marathon. We need to run with perseverance and set our eyes on Jesus. What’s needed for our faith here is something different from a special encounter with God. It requires some effort and intentionality. It requires us to choose Jesus and make a fresh commitment to Him, every day.
Special encounters with God are precious and help set us on our walk with Jesus. They strengthen our faith, and show us how present Jesus truly is with us. We should never forget those moments where God spoke to us powerfully or even changed our lives in an instant. But we can’t rely on special encounters with God to carry us through the whole race. God wants us to pick up our feet and actively follow him. We need to decide and commit to choosing Jesus, again and again. We need to renew our faith daily if we are to truly “run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).
What does it mean for you to choose Jesus today? For many of us, it may mean intentionally choosing to take time today to hear God. It may mean deciding to read our Bible, do discipleship, worship, pray, etc. And hopefully tomorrow, we choose Jesus again. And the day after that, and after that.
Our journey with God is for a lifetime, but it happens one day at a time, one step at a time. Choosing Jesus needs to happen daily, but it’s through that daily choice that God can transform our lives and the lives of those around us. Our journey with God need not happen in little jumps and spurts, going from one special encounter with God to another. There’s also no need to wait for God to do something special in our lives before we decide to follow Him. Like the disciples, what Jesus needs from us is simple–for us to just get up and follow Him, day after day.