Are You Willing to Forsake All to Accept the Will of God?

My Come, Follow Me studies for this week took me to Matthew 4 and Luke 4-5 for a lesson titled “The Spirit of the Lord Is upon Me.” The Savior used the scriptures both to resist Satan’s temptations and to testify of His own divine mission (see Luke 4:1-21). How can the scriptures build your faith and your resolve to resist temptation? The lesson was introduced with the following information. 

From His youth, Jesus seemed to be aware that He had a unique, sacred mission. But as Jesus prepared to begin His earthly ministry, the adversary sought to plant doubt in the Savior’s mind. “If thou be the Son of God,” Satan said (Luke 4:3, italics added). But the Savior had communed with His Father in Heaven. He knew the scriptures, and He knew who He was. To Him, Satan’s offer – “All this power will I give thee” (Luke 4:6) – was a hollow one, for the Savior’s lifelong preparation allowed Him to receive “the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14). So despite temptation, trials, and rejection, Jesus Christ never wavered from His appointed work: “I must preach the kingdom of God … for therefore am I sent” (Luke 4:43).

What Do the Scriptures Say?

As usual, the scripture block for this week contained several principles. The principle that I wish to discuss this evening is “As I trust in the Lord, He can help me reach my divine potential” (Matthew 4:18-22; Luke 5:1-11). A related principle found in the same scripture blocks is, “Following Christ means forsaking our will and accepting His.”

Heavenly Father sees our potential, and He knows the type of person that each of us can become – our divine potential. When we put our trust in the Savior, we put aside the person that we thought we wanted to be to become the one that God wants us to be. President Ezra Taft Benson taught, “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson [2014], 42). We will look at Simon Peter and his fellow fishermen to see how the Lord changed them from “fishers” to “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). In Matthew 4:18-22, we read:

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets and he called them.

22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

According to Matthew, the four men were fishers to provide for their families. Have you ever wondered how Zebedee felt when his sons left him to work alone, while they followed the Savior. While the Savior required His Apostles to forsake all earthly responsibilities, He also made it possible for they to do so. In Luke 5:1-11, we read the following:

1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,

2 And he saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.

3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.

4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.

5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. [Emphasis added.]

6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.

7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.

8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:

10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

 How Does the Story in Scriptures Apply to Me?

We do not know if the two stories are from the same experience, or if the fishermen followed Christ for a short time and went back to fishing and had to be called again. We do know that Simon Peter showed his faith in his statement to the Lord. In essence, Simon Peter said, “I have worked all night to catch fish and did not catch any. I am tired and want to go home, but I will cast my net BECAUSE you told me to do so.”

Simon Peter was blessed with so many fish that his net could not hold them and broke. His partners came to help, and they had so many fish that their boats began to sink! Christ did not intend for the fishermen to leave their families to starve. He gave them bounteous fish to care for their families temporally. In doing so, Christ convinced the men to forsake all and to follow Him.

Christ made the fishermen into fishers of men. Simon Peter became the Chief Apostle of Jesus Christ, and Andrew, James, and John became Apostles. If they had remained merely fishermen, we would not even know their names. Because they “forsook all and followed Him” they are honored and revered in their own day, today, and in eternity.

What – or Who – is God molding you to be? He sees us as we are and as we can become with His help. All that keeps us from reaching our full potential is our willingness to put our trust in Him by forsaking our will and accepting His.