It is extremely comforting to know that “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27). That’s why we are here, to do His work and respond to His call in our life.

As we go through the ‘book of Life’, life of apostles, give a clear picture about how to be effective in our respective calls.

Let’s consider the life of Peter. A fisherman by profession.

What do we understand by today’s fisherman. They are generally shabby, unkempt, rustic and most of the time stinking of fish. Imagine those days.
Fishermen would be more unkempt, uneducated and probably using very foul language. Peter was that kind.

But later stage of his life, he turns out to be one of the most outspoken apostles, who was used powerfully by God. One of the boldest witness, for Christ.

Now let us consider how he was before Peter was called by Jesus.

Scriptures record, Peter was a Galilean rustic fisherman, uneducated, and shabby. His profession was a physically demanding job. So he must have been a boisterous person by nature, quick to temper, because when in the sea, you do experience storms. Catching fish isn’t an easy job.

His original name was Simon. Jesus was the one who changed his name to ‘Peter’ which means ‘rock’ or ‘petra’ . Like all of us, he was a sinful man.
Luke 5:6-8 records, …..he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!

Now did Jesus condemn him? No. Then why he said like that? Because, the moment he had an encounter with Lord, he experienced conviction of spirit. He didn’t know that. But the work had already started. An unrefined uncouth man was to be transformed from here on, but ,…..it was a long journey ahead.

But the process had just begun.

Now consider yourself.

When you first came to Christ.

What did you experience? That same thing happened, conviction of spirit. God did not condemn you. But something that happened inside of you, that you couldn’t explain at that point of time. But you knew you are wrong all this while. You always had been wrong. But the beautiful part is, which now you can see…..he never left you, even when you were all wrong. Probably because he saw your heart.

Unfortunately, the world is so lost in their pride, wealth, lusts of flesh and mind, honour and status in life, that they do not know they need a Saviour, so desperately. They reason out everything. For them, if they are doing good, and not harming anyone, then they are doing fine in life.

Romans 3:23 says, “……for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

Psalm 51:5, “Behold I was brought forth in iniquity. And in sin my mother conceived me”.

Ephesians 2:3 says, “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, including the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even at the rest”.

Coming back to Peter…the first step had happened. But he had a long way to go.

Surprisingly when Jesus called him, he left everything. Now leaving everything behind means, he must have left his boat, fishing net and all kinds of accessories that he required for fishing…..everything he must have left behind and came with Jesus. That never went unnoticed by Jesus. That is simplicity and also firm faith. It wasn’t that Peter had known Jesus before this encounter. He just met a person and he dared to leave it all? That kind of trust, God wants from us Our call is like that. That is the beginning of the life of an evangelist.

Peter was the first one to know the identity of Jesus. He called Him the Son of the Living God (Mark 8:29, Luke 9:20, Matt 16:16-17). That was the work of the Holy Spirit’s revelation to him. But this is the same Peter, who even rebuked the Lord and said he was willing to die for Jesus. This willingness was proven wrong later on, which proves that he became ‘emotional’.

Your emotions might not impress God or speed up His schedule for you even for a moment. He will go as per His plans for you, because His plans for you will be much bigger and better than you can think of.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

But…..your act of OBEDIENCE surely will make Him look down on you from His throne in Heaven, with compassionate and loving eyes.

When in job, you can’t be emotional, say things you don’t mean, do things that can land you in trouble. Likewise, It definitely is not going to impress God if we say things to Him just for the heck of it. If you say something to God, or even to people, I think we should mean them, else keep quiet. Empty words put us in a very poor image in front of God and in front of people.

Now back to word.

Later on we find this same Peter who claimed to give his life for Jesus, getting intimidated by a small girl. Luke 22:54-62 records, he denies Jesus in front of the girl. This shows, in spite of the conviction of spirit, in spite of the wonderful work that began in him, he still was not ready.

He was the privileged one to be with Jesus during His ministry, saw him so close, saw all the miracles happening around, but still he could deny Jesus in front of a small girl. Still he was not ready. But…did that stop Jesus from including him in his core team? Did it stop Lord from anointing him? No. Why?

Because, even if we can’t see our tomorrow, God can. Jesus saw the potential Peter carried in Him. Jesus remembered that he dared to leave al his work behind, without even knowing Jesus well, not knowing Jesus till so far from that close, he chose to follow him without questioning him even for once. That kind of courage and sincerity of heart, Lord appreciated.

It’s same for us. Christ is same yesterday, today and forever. He never changes. He never will. He knows the potential you carry deep within you, because He is the one who gave it to you. All He will see, is your willingness and genuineness of your heart. He will never leave you nor forsake you, provided, the work you start to do, is for building His church.

Acts 1:14, …..Peter along with others, minds in full agreement devoted themselves steadfastly to prayer (waiting together)