| “And He … calleth unto Him whom He would … And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach” (Mark 3:13-14). |
| At the beginning of His public service for God His Father, we find that the Lord Jesus had many followers. For some of them the Lord had a special place, and here in our verses today we find that He specially chose the twelve disciples. The others could follow Him too, and also be referred to as His disciples, but the twelve He chose were to be extra close to Him. |
| But notice carefully the things that are said about these twelve disciples, and the order in which the things are said about them. There were two important things for them to do. |
| First of all, it says that “they should be with Him.” The Lord Jesus valued their company, and He values our company too. If they were going to be any use to Him, they needed to spend time with Him, and to enjoy His companionship. The twelve disciples happily did this, and they all gave up their jobs in order to spend their time with the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus does not ask us necessarily to give up our jobs, but He does want us to enjoy being with Him. Of course, we cannot actually see and touch the Lord Jesus the way that these disciples did, for He is not here on earth now. But by faith we can be in His company, because every true believer is indwelt with the Holy Spirit. It is more important to spend time with the Lord Jesus, than to go out and do something for Him. |
| But then, the second thing the Lord Jesus wanted was to “send them forth to preach.” When we are young we like activity, and perhaps we really want to do something for the Lord. This is good, and the Lord appreciates our service for Him. We are not all preachers, but it is important to do what He wants us to do, and to do it when He wishes. We will not know this unless we have spent time with Him. In His company we learn more about Him and become more like Him. Then we are better able to serve Him! |
