Daily Devotionals

A Time for Change: Wednesday

"Jesus called out to them, "Come, follow me." Mark 1:17

At Sagebrush, we are committed to being fully devoted followers of Christ. We believe Scripture when it teaches that we cannot have divided allegiance. We are either fully devoted to Christ or not committed to Him. There is no in-between. We can see the call to full devotion from Jesus' call in Mark 1 when He called His first disciples. 

Jesus called His disciples to complete devotion in Mark 1. In this chapter, He called His first disciples. The first two disciples that He called in this chapter were brothers Peter and Andrew, who were fishing. They were out fishing one day when Jesus called them and said, "Come, follow me" (verse 17). Next, he called two more brothers, James and John, who were fishing with their dad, to follow Him (verse 19). This was a radical call. Jesus called these men to leave everything behind, their family, their livelihood, and everything familiar to them. He called them to let go of life as they knew it and follow Him. This was a call for total commitment. There was no room for partiality in their devotion to Christ. 

Just like Jesus' call to His disciples was for them to be fully committed, His call to each of us is a call to commitment. When we encounter Christ, He calls us to fully commit to Him. This means letting go of our allegiance to anything else in this world. We no longer live for ourselves or any person or thing in this world. There is no room for partiality in His call to follow Him. May we follow Him every day wholeheartedly, without looking back. 

Moving toward action

Is there anything holding you back from being fully devoted to Christ? Maybe a person, a career, or finances and possessions have caused you to have divided loyalty. It is time to confess that area to God. Tell Him you are sorry for your divided loyalty and commit to letting go of anything holding you back. Ask Him for your help as you seek to do this. 

Going Deeper

 Mark 1:16-28 (NLT)

"One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 17 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 18 And they left their nets at once and followed him.

19 A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. 20 He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men.

21 Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.

23 Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24 “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

25 But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. 26 At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.

27 Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!” 28 The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee."