Take a look at what Mark says in chapter 1 verses 17-18.  Christ comes to Simon and Andrew as they are fishing and calls them to follow him.  Read verse 18.  At once they left their nets and followed him.

Think about that, they left their only source of income, their trade, passed down from their father.  And they followed.

What are the nets you have and won’t drop?  Is it security?  Pride?  Comfort?  Or maybe it’s the reverse, maybe it’s insecurity, or simply feeling unworthy?

My nets are not much different than yours I would imagine.  A little of all those, and a few more.  Somehow, I like my life as it is right now, even though much of the time if I’m deeply honest, I don’t really like it.  What is holding me back from truly following?

I would argue that what holds us back, is the hold that the world has on us.  When we read where Christ says you cannot serve God and money, we shake our head and agree as we think of those poor millionaires chasing more millions.  Rarely if ever does it cross our minds that Christ was talking to me.  He was talking to you.  If He walked up to you or I today and said “quit your job, sell you house and your stuff, and come follow me” I’m afraid that most of us (myself included) would have a hundred perfectly good reasons why we couldn’t.  Even more frightening, is that we would most likely really believe our own reasons.

Fortunately, the hold that the world has on us can be broken.  I believe there are some nets we  need to drop right now, and we should be in a constant state of prayer around the rest of the nets we have.  I don’t actually believe that Christ is calling every follower to sell everything, but I have to think that his words to the rich young ruler would be repeated far more often in Austin Texas than we would like.  Would He say them to you?