Jesus now calls the first disciples, Simon and Andrew. Passages in the other gospels (John 1:35-42, Luke 4:38-41, 5:1-11) make it clear that this was not the first time Jesus had met Simon and Andrew. The picture some people give of this being their first meeting with Jesus and being so overwhelmed by Him that they just left their boats and followed Him is not consistent with the Bible. They had had some previous experience of Jesus.
Jesus called them to follow Him. This is the most fundamental call and decision on a person's life. The call is to follow Jesus. It is not to make an intellectual decision about whether or not we believe certain things (though that will undoubtedly play a role), but to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Having decided to follow Jesus He will change us, He will start to make us into what God always intended us to be. In Peter and Andrew's case it was to be "fishers on men".
Following Jesus involves a leaving. Sometimes this may be a physical leaving, but more usually is a change in the direction of our life, a change in what motivates and directs our life.
Later Jesus called James and John, who were also fishermen. They left their boats and their family. Now later events showed that they all still had some connection with fishing, and they had connections with their family. So we must not read too much into this leaving. Otherwise we make these decisions into something so massive that we feel we cannot emulate them. Now their are times when we may have to leave a job, or choose between Christ and family members, but we must not try and give the impression that we need to do this in order to prove our allegiance to Christ. The decision we make is to follow Christ. This may then have all sorts of consequences, but these will differ from one person to the next, and the root decision is the one to follow Christ.
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