Imagine yourself a fisherman by trade. You’ve had a long and disappointing night where you brought back nothing. You’ve got your boat in the dock and are working on cleaning everything up so you can head home and get a little sleep.
A stranger walks down the dock and boards you boat while you are on the dock taking care of the last few items to finish up and leave. You’ve seen this guy around somewhere before, a minor celebrity perhaps. Yes, in fact there is a crowd of people wandering down the docks toward you now. The stranger asks you to pull the boat a little away from the dock. You’ve got to be kidding me, you think, what am I, your chauffeur? But for no apparent reason, you do what he asks.
The stranger gives a speech to the crowd and you find yourself listening, after all here you are waiting for him to get done before you can go home. This guy has some wild ideas! Then he really blows you mind by asking you to take the boat out for some fishing. Now you’ve really go to be kidding me. I’m a professional. You don’t fish this time of day and I am so tired. You respond, “We’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.” It’s just that there was something about what he had been saying… “But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” What I am doing? This makes no sense!
So, out you go, having just gotten everything tucked away so you can catch a few hours of sleep. Everything will have to be redone…fuel wasted…sleep lost. I must be out of my mind, who is this guy anyway? The boat jerks, the pulleys whine. We’ve got something big in the nets. You signal for help. By the time you are done both your boat and your partners are nearly swamped by the enormous haul of fish. Where did they all come from? I’ve never seen so many. I’ll be set for years and years on just this haul. But what was it that this man was saying? You look to the stranger, “Go away from me. I am a sinful man!” I don’t deserve all this. Oh, the things I’ve done! This is nothing short of a miracle.
He did not go away. In fact, I did. My partners and I left the haul with our parents. They’ll be in good shape financially now. We left everything to follow this man, Jesus. He tells us that we will fish for men now and though I don’t fully understand he has caught my heart and there is no turning back.
Jesus Christ asks us to do things that make no sense from our viewpoint. Anyone who looks back on the story where Jesus called these first disciples can see the bigger picture. At the time, all Simon had to go on was the tug of faith on his heart. He had seen Jesus around and believed him to be a righteous man, so he pushed off the boat. He heard Jesus’ words and they resonated, so “Because you say so” he let down the nets. He recognized that the haul of fish was not for his comfort but a sign that this Jesus was the source and being with him was that path to follow.
My bit of faith today is to say to you that Jesus is doing the same for you. He is asking you to do things that only make sense from the infinitely greater viewpoint of God. Every step of obedience leads you to a greater unity with Him and puts you in place of danger in terms of this world and great rewards in terms of eternity. Won’t you take a step of dangerous faith today?
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