Entourage

Our Wednesday night theme for the fall is "Entourage". We're going to examine the lives of Jesus' disciples and talk about what discipleship looks like for us. I started studying today for the first passage we're going to examine on September 10th. When Jesus called the disciples, he called men who were at the time completely and utterly unqualified. They had none of the abilities that the religous establishment of the time thought neccesary to do ministry. They very likely couldn't read. Also, this is just some conjecture from me, but I wonder how closely they "walked with God" before they met Jesus. Were they seekers? Were they serious Church guys? Where were they? My point is, Jesus didn't wait for them to be qualified before he called them. He didn't wait until they were spiritually mature (see Peter), he called them to ministry where they were knowing HE would be the one to mature and grow them, as they were incapable of doing it themselves. In the same vein, it's very easy for me to get discouraged in ministry. God has placed me in places of ministry where I've been surrounded my a lot of extremely talented mature men. There is still a lot I have to work on, and it's easy to get caught up in the feeling of "I'm not as good as ____, so I'm not going to be effective in my ministry" I find encouragement in the calling of the disciples, and I'm reminded that Jesus didn't call some future, perfect version of me to ministry. He called me as I am knowing HE would be there to grow and mature me as I obediently (most of the time) follow him. When I look at the people in scripture God chooses to use, I see a lot of murders, adulterers, a prostitute, illiterate blue collar guys, a terrorist and a traitor to his people. God uses screwed up people to do his work as he heals their spiritual wounds and grows them in maturity and wisdom. Thank God I don't have to do it myself. (because I couldn't)