CATCHING THE BIG FISH
And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:18, 19)
Recently I took time off to go fishing while in Galveston with my mother. At one of the popular fishing spots in Galveston I met up with the Chairman of our Church Deacon Board and his son, who is a pastor in the city of Houston. It had been prearranged to do some fishing, although they got there much earlier. The son was actually in the water and able to fish far out from the shore. His father and I fished from the bank. Perhaps it is no surprise that the son was catching the bigger fishes. Our catches were smaller but we remained dry. By the way, we observed snakes slithering between the rocks, only a few feet from us. That should have been a sign for us to get off of the rocks and get in the water. The point is, in order to catch the bigger fishes, we would have to get in the water and go out further.
When Jesus called Simon and Andrew to follow Him, he also intended for them to become fishers of men. Since they were already fishermen, they knew that they would have to go to greater lengths to catch bigger fish. The same is true about our assignment to evangelize the lost in our society. We cannot assume that they will just stop in on us on Sunday morning and say, here I am, catch me. We must be willing to go where they are and risk difficulty in getting them in the boat.
Catching big fish is not always easy, but it is certainly rewarding. Remember, the family of God grows larger with each catch. Hallelujah!
