SATURDAY (2/20/21)

Hello, I’m Evan Good. I’ve been at Riverside for 3-ish years I think, and I’m
in the Marquette Home Group led by Keith and Shelley. If you’ve heard a
loud boisterous (possibly obnoxious) laugh sometime during service or
after, it was probably me!

  • Today’s passage is Matthew 4:12-25.

There’s a few different things that jumped out at me from today’s
reading. The first is the part of the prophecy in verse 16 “the people who
sat in darkness have seen a great light”, and it made me think about how
much effort God puts into going to those in darkness. He consistently
chases the “hopeless”.

The other part that struck me was the disciples’ response to Jesus
calling them to join Him. They just up and left, in an instant. I’m deeply
challenged by the commitment that took, no planning, no talking
to those they were working with to see if it was ok, no tying up loose
ends—they just left. In fact, this challenged me so much that I checked
the account in the other gospels trying to find if they really went that
immediately. The different accounts of the disciples have varying
details around the circumstances but they all show the disciples leaving
to follow Jesus immediately. If you want to check them for yourself look
at Mark 1:16-19, Luke 5:1-11, and John 1:15-51 (don’t worry, John has
short verses).

In light of that, the questions I’m now wrestling with and encourage you
to consider are:

  • Is there someone in your life who’s sitting in darkness that you can be a great light to?
  • What might Jesus be calling you to leave behind in order to follow Him?