FISHING....

I have had all these thoughts rattling around in my brain after a sermon I heard a few Sundays ago. I literally began to jot them down on some scratch paper so I wouldn't forget. They are still jumbled and maybe one day I will put them in proper order for a devotional or something...but until then here goes.

~We're called to be fishers of men. Those disciples had been doing what they knew best, fishing, all night long with no success. They know those waters, where the fish were at certain times of the day, etc. They continued using their tried and true methods, all to no avail. Along comes Jesus (whom they didn't recognize) with a new fangled idea to fish on the opposite side....results-overwhelming! Do we rebel at new ideas determined to do things the way we always have, thinking we know best?

~As a child when I fished with my Daddy, I would never touch the bait (unless it was artificial), never took the fish off the hook for fear of getting "finned" but loved the thrill of the catch even though many times the pursuit was quite boring and mundane. Aren't we like that with souls? We want the thrill of the catch but don't want to "get our hands dirty", don't want to get hurt (finned) in the process, and often lose interest in the pursuit of souls because it becomes boring and mundane. Do I just want the bragging rights of the catch and yet not willing to put forth the all nighters, early morning risings, hooks in my hands, sitting still waiting for the right opportunity, and the taking the fish off the hook?

~Fishing doesn't end with the catch. After we have made the catch, it requires taking the hook out of the mouth, bringing the fish home, cleaning it, and preparing it for a wonderful meal. We so often catch the soul, and then just leave it, not wanting to bring the fish "home", often tossing it back into the world's pond. I must follow through in the entire process of fishing...start to finish. It requires a willingness to disciple that soul, cleaning it up, considering it worthy of keeping, showing and teaching them how our Heavenly Father cuts away the nasty stuff to make them a pleasing aroma to the world.

~Fishing is not something you intuitively know how to do. Just as my Daddy taught me how to fish, we must be taught how to reach and teach those fish. It requires sitting at the Master's feet, listening to Him and doing things His way. Am I willing to sit? Am I willing to practice, casting and reeling it in over and over even when there are no nibbles on the other end of the line? Am I so in tune with the line that I can feel just a slight nudge and realize that another fish is ready to be reeled in?

Ok, I think that's it for now. I really want to be a fisher of men, a fisher of my grandchildren, of students, of neighbors. Do you? Pick up that net and cast it on the other side....results-overwhelming!