Going Fishing…

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”  -Mark 1:17

Fishers of Men, fishermen, that’s what we are to be. You gotta love the imagery of the Bible, simple and to the point. I think sometimes the simplicity is what gets us, we just have to make things complicated, either that or we tend to overlook or downplay the simple truths of the Bible

I remember a few years back I was on a fishing tangent. I was trying to learn to do some new things, and fishing was on the list. I never really caught anything, unless you count the seaweed and the shoe I pulled out of the Sacramento River.

One day one of my young nephews invited me to go crayfishing with him. I had never been before, and I wanted to make sure I had everything I thought would help me catch a lot of crayfish. I can’t help but laugh at myself as I think back to all of the gear I brought with me that day, only to see my nephew walking up with just a five gallon bucket and some string. He took one look at my stuff and informed me that the only thing I needed out of all the many things I brought was a net.

I couldn’t argue with him after all I had never done this before,and although he was only 11 or 12 years old, I got the feeling he knew what he was doing so I just went along with him. I watched in amazement as he took the string and then pulled something out his pocket. It appeared to be something wrapped in a paper towel. Amazement turned to extreme curiosity, as he opened the paper towel to revealed what appeared to be several small chicken bones, and judging from the smell it was fried chicken that had just recently been eaten.

My nephew proceeded to break one of the bones and tied it to the end of the string he had. By now I was begin to question his ability to catch any crayfish, but I didn’t say anything, I just watched him as he worked. He tossed the chicken bone into the water, not too far out just near the shores edge. He waited for about a minute and then began to slowly pulled the string in.

To my surprise there were crayfish of all sizes clinging to the bone and the string and as he pulled the string there was even a trail of crayfish chasing after that chicken bone. I would have still been standing there with my mouth open, had he not summoned me to grab the net and scoop them up and place them in the bucket. Within a matter of minutes we filled that five gallon bucket with crayfish.

I learned a valuable lesson that day, and I constantly revisit and remind myself of what I learned that day. You see as Christians we are called to be fisher’s of men, but most times many of us are like I was that day…we show up with the right gear, the right text, the right sermon and our ten point lesson plans you name it we have it…but sometimes we just need the simple truth and a string to toss out a line and then reel it back in and then scoop up those who respond to the bait.

We forget that witnessing is like fishing, when you go fishing you bait & gear that is appropriate for the type of fish you are trying to catch…but when we go fishing for people we tend to think that the same bait and same gear works for all people…let me break it to ya…it doesn’t! We think that if we say all the right words, the people will automatically responds…not so.

I don’t know about you but I have yet to go fishing and stand up in the boat, and say “Fish I am here to catch you…Jump Into my Boat! and then the fish respond by jumping in the boat. I wish it worked like that…but it doesn’t. Likewise when it comes to people, you need to consider your audience, the “fish” you are trying to catch and then use the appropriate bait.

As fishers of men we need to be more clever, especially seeing that many people have a twisted view of God and Jesus. It’s time that we start following the Master Fisher and start reeling them in! Think on it…

Grace & Peace
Holy Ridaz