people-fishers

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.

Luke 5:10b-11

Jesus called His first disciples to leave all the familiar hard work of commercial fishing and come follow Him. He made only a cryptic promise: He would make them into people-fishers. These men knew the long days of fishing the Sea of Galilee. It had been their lives since they were boys. They chased the schools of fish. They mended nets and maintained boats. They cleaned their catch and brought fish to market. These kinds of men were not the first choice on anybody’s list to lead anything significant. But Jesus wanted hearts that would follow Him. He got these men there by quickly giving them the best day’s fishing they’d ever known. That miracle astounded them and they quickly lost all interest in fishing and gave it up to learn more and follow Jesus.

Jesus is better than the best day of anything else. For Simon Peter and crew, Jesus was easily better than a small fortune in fish. He had just shown them the best that their efforts might give them. And they chose to leave it all behind... nets, boats, fish and all... and then found in following Jesus all that they ever were looking for. And Jesus made them into different men. They became the “people-fishers” He predicted... men who preached the gospel and built His church.

Jesus did this to common fishermen in Galilee. He will do the same to anyone who will believe Him to be better than any other thing. He will make of sincere, hard-working, committed disciples men and women in whom He works His change, and through whom He can change others. He will make disciples who make disciples. The journey of discipleship with Jesus changes lives. It begins when we step out in a little bit of fear of the unknown, and a whole lot of faith in Jesus... done with anything and everything else.