Living or not Living with Jesus: “fish or no fish”
Do you ever feel pressure in your life? Do you ever need more hours in the day? So often I find myself running wide open trying to find more time in the day. In fact, I often explain my life as a constant sprint. At times it gets so bad that I don’t realize it until the stress brings me to the breaking point and I realize that I am trying to do everything on my own and that is my biggest problem. I sprint because I’m trying to do it within my own power. And the more I try to do it on my own the more I feel like I’m fishing the whole ocean and there is not one single fish willing to bite.
There is this story in the 21st chapter of the gospel of John of the disciples going out to fish after they think Jesus has been killed and remains in the grave. They are out their fishing all night and they don’t catch a thing. Jesus then appears and tells them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat. They do and they can’t even pull in all the fish that are there. They fish all night on their own and catch nothing; they make one cast through the guidance of Jesus and they catch so many fish they can’t haul in the net. Jesus was able to do in one cast what they couldn’t do the whole stinkin’ night.
Yep, that’s my life! I “fish” all night on my own and catch nothing and then through grace Jesus appears and says throw it on the other side and I am amazed at the catch of “fish.”
My prayer is for Jesus to come to my life in such a way today that I will fish on the other side of the boat. I ask Jesus to forgive me for doing the fishing on my own and wasting valuable time trying to do it on my “own” instead of allowing Jesus to drive my life. I don’t want to fish all night for fishing sake; I desire to catch enough fish that I can’t haul in the net; I desire for Jesus to tell me where to throw the net.
My hope for your life is that you will not fish on your own. Instead, may you wait on Jesus to come along side you and tell you where you throw your net. May the most important time of your day be the time you wait to listen to Jesus. May you not get sucked in to thinking that fishing for fishing sake is ok. May you not be deceived into thinking that fishing all day and not catching any fish is better then making one cast and catching more then you can haul. May you realize that the most important use of your time today is not the sprint but the quiet time of sitting with a God that isn’t in the grave but is alive and loves you enough to tell you where to throw the net.
Keep the Faith; Never Lose Hope; Always Love
Pastor P.
Leave a Reply