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Thou Shalt Be Called

Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. If the sum total of what was required to save us was accomplished on the Cross, then His work ended nearly 2000 years ago. But He is not done. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. He is still involved in our lives. He sees the end from the beginning and because of that He sees the divine in each one of us—no matter what we have become in this life, and He will not rest until He has brought forth as much good in us and through us as we are willing to receive. In that light, consider when the Savior first meets Simon Peter.

Andrew brought Simon to meet the Savior. When the Savior saw him, He said to him, “…Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas,” or Peter in the Greek, “which is by interpretation, [a seer or] a stone.” (John 1:42)

Can you imagine what those words must have done to Peter? One minute you are Simon, a lowly Galilean fisherman, and the next, you are a fisher of men, a personal friend of the Messiah, a seer and a man of rock! Surely, Peter would never have forgotten those words. Like a beacon before His soul, He would have followed them, and spent the rest of His life living up to them.

And again, look at the nickname the Master gave two others of His apostles, James and John. He called them, “…Boanerges,” which means “…sons of thunder:” (Mark 3:17)

Most of us have things about ourselves we want to change. I have found that it is so much easier to change when we have a friend to help us. The Savior is that friend. From the first moment we begin to become acquainted with Him, he gives us hope and vision—something to live up to. We begin through His spirit and love to feel His gentle but firm upward tug. There seems always that gentle whisper from Him that says, “You can do better. I will help you! Come!” And we get back up and try again.

I will be forever grateful that He always can see more in me than I can.

John 1, Mark 3