Fish are peculiar. They breath in water; different from our world. Not all fish are the same. We need to know what we are fishing, where to find them, how to catch them. It takes preparation to go fishing. I remember my father-in-law would go far flung islands just to catch fish. He made sure that he had all that he needed. He must have gained his knowledge about fish through experience from years fishing; he knew fish! Despite all the stench and mess, he cherished fishing. And did we enjoy a variety of fresh catch!
Isn’t it strange that Jesus talking to his first disciples related going after men like fishing? And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.1 Perhaps Jesus meant we won’t find the people that He desires in places that we regularly go to and we have to get out of our comfort zones to find them—the gentiles, the sinners, the tax collectors; our enemies, our neighbors, these are the people whom the Lord our God has been wooing until now. Paul reminds us that he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.2
Are you as excited as I am? that one day, when we look we shall behold a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”3
Note:
1. Matthew 4:19
2. Ephesians 1:4-6
3. Revelations 7:9-10
