When Jesus began his ministry, he fulfilled all the requirements for rabbis who possessed what the Jews called semikhah, which translates as “authority.” He knew the Torah so well that he had instructed the teachers of the law in the temple by age 12. The people who heard him speak were amazed at his authority, and he even performed miracles.

So, of course, when Jesus called Peter and Andrew to follow him (Matthew 4:18-22), they got up and left their nets behind. Jesus, who was just oozing with semikhah, chose two fishermen to follow him and become like him, to know what he knew, to do what he did, and to be filled with his power. Fishermen didn’t usually—as in, ever—get called up to the big leagues like that.

Can you relate to Peter and Andrew? Do you ever feel too ordinary or unprepared to follow the Son of God? There are two things to notice in this passage about what it means to be Jesus’ disciple that will help us see why Jesus called us, even when, like Jesus’ first disciples, we lack potential or personal power.

1. God doesn’t choose the best. He chooses the willing.

When Jesus called his disciples, he didn’t choose religious experts or great scholars. He chose a bunch of fishermen, an IRS agent, and a former terrorist. It wasn’t a promising crew. But Jesus chose them anyway.

He chose the B-team, because his work in the world wouldn’t come from their abilities for him but from what he would do through him.

People with a lot of talent and ability would only get in the way, because they would never learn to lean on his power. Jesus taught that his power in the weakest vessel was infinitely greater than the greatest talent without him. I’m not sure most Christians today believe that.

I love the promise Jesus gave to his disciples later in Matthew 11:11: “Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (NIV). “Least in the kingdom” means you know the least about the Bible. It means you have the least talent. It means you’re the least eloquent. It means you have the least number of spiritual gifts.

Statistically speaking, that’s got to be somebody. Maybe you’re thinking, “Yeah…that’s me!” But even if that’s true, that means you have more potential for power in ministry than John the Baptist, because you have the Holy Spirit inside you. It’s no longer about your abilities; it’s about your availability to God.

God wants to use us in our families and in our neighborhoods and at our workplaces. We need to stop making excuses that we are not able. God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called.

2. God chose us, not we him.

In Jesus’ day, all Hebrew boys went to Torah school at 5 years old. By age 17, if you had made the cut and were still studying and you were among the best of your class, you applied to a rabbi to become his talmid, or his disciple. If the rabbi liked what he saw, he’d choose you back.

A rabbi’s selection would have given his talmid a great deal of confidence. If the student was struggling, he could say, “Ah, but my rabbi believed in me! He chose me.”

Jesus started the process back even further. He sought his disciples when they weren’t even looking for him. And he’s done the same for you and me.

Do you know what kind of confidence that is supposed to give us?

Jesus said to his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you” (John 15:16).

When we are not confident in ourselves, we can be confident in the fact that God chose us.

We may not feel confident about our abilities in the future. But we can be confident in his promise to make us what we need to be, to strengthen us so that we can do what he has called us to do.

When we fall, when life smacks us down, when we feel like we are up against insurmountable obstacles in our marriage, with our kids, in our career, and in our ministry, we need to remember this: The God who called us is faithful, and he will finish the good work he began in us (Philippians 1:6).

“What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do” (Isaiah 46:11b).

For more, be sure to listen to the entire message here.