Fishers of Men

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.^H)"> And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

I love this. The disciples were very sad and downtrodden because they hadn't caught any fish. And then Jesus tells them to try just one more time, and they catch a million more than they could have ever dreamed!

How many times have we given up because nothing seems to be going our way? Guess what? It's not about OUR way and OUR timing, it's about HIS! I get impatient a lot, but I need to find those times when Jesus is telling me to try just once more. What I am hoping for is not what He has planned, there's so much more. So much, that my "nets" won't be able to carry it all. Wonderful.

I just need to get out of my own little selfish and impatient world and start living in His.

I could say so much more about this passage, but it's time for bed. Let me know what you think about it :-). How else can we take this passage and apply it to our lives?