It has always amazed me how the disciples in the bible responded to Jesus. He said to them, ‘follow me’, so they did. Most of them leaving their jobs, their homes and their families. Either Jesus was a great salesman or these guys were looking for the right opportunity to make a career move!

I’ll be honest, if some carpenter came up to me and said to drop everything you have planned for the rest of your life, quit your job and then come on the road with me I’d be it little cautious.

However, when you think about many of their jobs, they weren’t really high-end career jobs. That is except Matthew. The likes of Peter, John, Matthew and James could drop their job and if things didn’t work out they could slip right back into it. Not Matthew. He was a tax collector and if you left the union, there was no way back. Imagine how Matthew must have felt when Jesus said follow me? Matthew knew it meant sacrificing his whole life, everything he had worked towards, everything he had hoped for and now he was to turn his back on the only people who excepted him for who he was, the other Tax Collectors. This guy gave up everything for the hope of a life of purpose.

Early last year I sat in my office at the church I was on staff at during that time and I heard that little voice inside me that said, ‘follow me’. I had heard that voice before, when I was sixteen and knew God was calling me into ministry. I heard that voice when it was time to go to college and the voice directed me to a secular university not a bible college. I heard that voice before when I knew I was meant to move to America and then again when my wife and I moved to Maryland. However, this time the voice directed me from the life I knew and had always hoped for.

Back in my teens and early twenties I believed that the only way I was going to fulfill my calling of God was to work at a church. Many years later I was doing just that. I had a big office and directed lots of ministries. I was on the road to my calling, when God said ‘follow me’. This time it was a direction that to many looked like a backwards step. A step back into the world of business, back into the unknown and back into the life outside of a church building. I didn’t bite at the opportunity like Matthew, no I did the spiritual thing, I prayed about it. Isn’t it funny how when God talks we pray about it, but when the devil talks we act upon it?

So here I am today, having listened and followed that voice, and I’ll be honest, it was the best decision I could have ever made in my life. God has just shown up like never before. I just pray that I can have an impact on this world like that man Matthew had. Like Matthew I have lost friends because of that decision. Some people now even despise me! I’m not sure why, maybe because for once in my life I chose to listen to God instead of other people.

I challenge you to think about what you would give up? Think of the thing in your life that is most precious to you, now imagine if God said give it up and come follow me. Would you?