Matthew 4:18-20
Walking along the beach of Lake
Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew.
They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their
regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of
fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead
of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their
nets and followed.
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
Many years ago, I was
shopping in Walmart just before Thanksgiving, and I saw my friend,
Frances Evans. We talked about preparing the Thanksgiving meal and how
much work was involved, and I mentioned making homemade rolls. Frances,
who was one of the best cooks in the county, said, “Don’t do that! Go
to the freezer case and find the Sister Schubert’s® Parker House Style
Rolls. They are so good that you will never make homemade rolls
again!” I knew if Frances said these rolls were good, they were GOOD!
And she was exactly right!
My dear friend Frances is gone now,
but every time I buy Sister Schubert’s rolls®, I think of her. And
while I have made homemade rolls from my Mam-ma Polly’s recipe, these
were good enough that even she commented on how delicious the rolls
tasted!
I share this to say that sometimes, there is nothing
necessarily wrong with what we are doing or how we are doing it…but
Jesus has something so much better in mind for us to accomplish. There
was nothing wrong with Peter and Andrew fishing for a living…but Jesus
wanted them to work for Him…to “fish” for the souls of men and women and
to share the Good News with them as His disciples. And the amazing
part of this story for me is that they dropped their nets and followed
Jesus.
You see, it was one thing for me to mark homemade rolls
off my “to-do” list for Thanksgiving dinner and buy frozen rolls.
France had told me they would be delicious, and I knew that she would
not steer me wrong. I had eaten countless meals that she prepared. I
had years of “history” with her. But these two men really didn’t know
Jesus that well…at least not well enough to drop their very livelihood
and leave their homes and families to follow Him. And yet, they did it!
Peter and Andrew had not grown up with Jesus. They had met
Him…they had been told that He was the Messiah. But they didn’t have
years of “history” with Him. And still they gave Him their complete
faith and hope…they stepped up and out and followed Jesus with complete
confidence that He knew best – that their work for Him would matter.
Here’s
the thing…in some ways, we really don’t know Jesus all that well,
either. We’ve never even met Him in the flesh. All we know is what we
have been told…what we have read in the Bible…what we have seen
demonstrated in the faithful words and actions of others. And yet, we
are called to “come and follow” Him and “fish” for the hearts and souls
of others on His behalf. Honestly, your life may be pretty good
already. Your “old ways” are working fairly well, and there might not
seem to be much need for any changes in how you worship and serve.
But
often, Jesus calls us to make a few adjustments that add up to so much
more…to cast off our “old ways” and take up the His new ones…to step out
of our comfort zone and serve a Messiah that we have never physically
seen. Jesus calls us to live for Him and do all that we can to convince
others to surrender their hearts serve Him as well. These are all
expressions of incredible faith and hope. And this is what Jesus asks
of us.
So I guess my question today is this…”Are you content to
keep ‘fishing’ like you’ve always done it…or are you ready to trust
Jesus and try something new?” Will this be the day/week/year that you
step out of your comfort zone and trust Jesus to show you a new – and
better – way of doing things? Are you ready to drop your nets and
follow Him…completely and faithfully? Don’t you think it’s time you
were?
©2016 Debbie Robus
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