April 26

Read: Matthew 4:18-22

Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:19).

Consecration Of A Life’s Work

As a young man, eighteen years of age, I knelt one night at an altar in a college chapel. I had found the Lord as a boy. Now I wanted God to sanctify me wholly.

For some time I prayed and tried to follow the instructions of those who were praying with me. At last God whispered to me and said, “Son, would you be willing to preach My gospel?”

My first reply was quick and firm. “No, Lord,” I said, “I couldn’t do that. I’m going to be a doctor.” For more than six years I had dreamed of medicine, and was preparing for it. I couldn’t give up those firm plans for my life’s work.

But God was speaking to me as clearly as Jesus spoke to the Galilean fishermen. I wanted to give my life entirely to God but I felt powerless to answer His call. He had asked me, “Would you be willing to preach?”

In agony I argued, “Lord, how can I say I am willing when I am not willing? How can I be willing when I don’t want to preach? When I want to be a doctor?”

The Lord knew that I could not change my desires by a sheer act of will. But He knew that He could change those desires if I would surrender my will to Him. He asked me, “Would you be willing for Me to make you willing to preach?”

From my heart I surrendered. I said, “If You can change my desires so that I can really want to preach, I am willing for You to do it.” And a miracle happened. The old desire of’ six year’s standing somehow faded away. God’s Holy Spirit filled my soul and I found a real joy in the thought of sharing Christ’s message with others. For thirty-eight years that joy has deepened and grown.