If you have attended church or studied the Bible, you’ve likely heard or read about Jesus calling the first of His disciples to ministry with Him. Following His baptism by John (Matthew 3) and wilderness days of temptation by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11), Jesus began preaching a message of repentance and returning to God (Matthew 4:17). It was during this early part of Jesus’ mission that He met the first of His first twelve followers.
Simon Peter and his brother, Andrew, worked as fishermen along the coast of the Sea of Galilee. The fishing business, even with the occasional run of empty nets, provided family security. Since the Philistine people controlled the main seacoast, fishing in the Jordan River and Sea of Galilee became a necessary focus for Peter and Andrew, as well as James and John, whose father Zebedee was left to run the family business with the hired help when Jesus called these men to follow Him.
Although not the first career opportunity in Biblical times, fishing was apparently a steady and respected one. Even later during the ministry of Jesus, fishing and fishing boats played a role in the lives of those He called. Their chosen occupation was an honorable one, but Jesus called those four fishermen to an even more important task: fishing for the souls of men.
Whatever their lifetime experience on the water had been to this point, Matthew 4:20 & 22 records the response of these men to Jesus’ call as immediate: they left the known for the unknown without hesitation.
Jesus occasionally calls us to leave something good behind – that comfortable career, a lifestyle of safe familiarity, possibly even a current ministry of faith – so that He can lead us to something even better. Less earthly security, yet more intimacy with Christ. Less of the familiar, more spiritual adventures with Jesus. Less of your own demands, more pleasing the King.
Are you still clutching that fishing net? Let go and find that less of you allows for more of the Savior.
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