Immediately!

They immediately left their nets and followed Him. (Mark 1:18 NKJV)

Mark's gospel uses the word "immediately" a lot. A quick search gives 35 instances of the word in Mark alone. That's a lot of rushing around! The word "immediately" gives a sense of urgency.

Some reasons to use the word "immediately" might include:

A scary warning from my doctor might cause me immediately take better care of myself.
A loved one arriving home after a long absence would make me immediately drop what I was doing to greet him.
A toddler headed for a busy street would make me immediately run to pull her to safety.
Winning the lottery would be cause for immediate celebration.

I'm guessing that when the disciples immediately dropped their nets to leave everything they knew to follow this itinerate preacher, they must have felt a sense of urgency... an innate knowledge that their lives were meant for more.

What if they had been more like us? What if they had decided to wait until the fishing season was over and they had more time for volunteer work? What if they had at least wanted to wait until they sold their portion of the business so they had some cash for the journey?

Why do we need to wait until Lent to start better study habits? Do it immediately! Why wait to join that ministry you feel led to until somebody asks? Ask them... Immediately.

We can waste our lives away waiting for the perfect circumstances to really follow Jesus... Or we can see the urgency of the situation and just do it... immediately.

Lord,
Help us to leave behind our procrastinating nature as though they were fishing nets, and follow you immediately. Amen.

Joys: buying some clothes that fit better...in a SMALLER size;lazy Sunday afternoons; my cute little preschool Sunday school class