They Left Everything

April 6

Luke 5 tells us about a miraculous catch of fish. Simon and his partners, James and John, had been fishing through the night without catching any fish. They had hauled their nets ashore and were cleaning them in preparation for the next night’s work. But, after teaching from one of the boats, Jesus told Simon to put out the nets one more time.

They followed the Master’s instructions and caught so many fish that the bursting nets began to sink two boats! Seeing this, Simon fell at Jesus’ feet as a broken man, begging the Lord to leave. Above and beyond the miracle he had just witnessed, Simon recognized he was not worthy to be in the presence of Jesus. Instead of condemning Simon, however, Jesus extended to him an invitation to begin fishing for people, rather than fish. Simon, James, and John brought their nets to the shore and followed Jesus. Dr. Luke doesn’t say anything else about what these lifetime fishermen did, other than they left everything and followed Him. They didn’t take their abundant catch to market. Dr. Luke simply says, they laid it all down and walked away from what was familiar. In January 29’s devotional on John 21, I talked about these disciples returning to what was familiar after Jesus’ resurrection. In that story, the disciples had another encounter with a miraculous catch of fish.

Later in Luke 5, we see Jesus heal and forgive a man. Everyone is awestruck by what they witness, and they glorify God. Later, Jesus encounters Levi at his office and invites him to follow Him. Levi, too, leaves everything and follows Jesus. You can read about Levi/Matthew abandoning his occupation in our daily reading and devotional from March 12.

Application

Have you ever felt compelled to walk away from everything familiar to you in order to follow Jesus? It may not have felt earth-shattering, but when you were saved, you responded to a call to die—a call to die to your agenda, plans, desires, and wishes. Not only were you called to die when you were saved, though, each new day brings with it a renewed call to death—death to all of those things you previously reckoned with. This is what Jesus pointed to when He spoke of taking up your cross. We’ll revisit this on April 12. (Luke 9:23)

Every day, you must freshly take up your cross. Every day you must die. (1 Corinthians 15:31) Every day, you must call Jesus your Lord. Lord means boss, master, king, sovereign. To say, “No, Lord,”  is irreconcilable if you think about it. After all, Lord implies that Jesus is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.

Renew your commitment to follow Jesus. Renew your commitment to die. Renew your commitment to say, “Yes, Lord.”

© Copyright 2026 Craig Beaman