“Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. and so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon.
Luke 5:4-6 (KJV)
Everyone is pretty familiar with this parable. Peter (Simon) had been fishing all night. Him and James and John hadn’t caught any fish. However after a fruitless night as the light begin to peak through and early morning begin to approach, Jesus came and told them to let down their net.
Now if this was any of one us, can you imagine what we would have said to Jesus? Come on man, we been at this thing all night and nothing! Now you want us to do it all over again? We are tired! There are no fish! Despite the lack of fish they caught all night, Peter (Simon) obeyed, launched his net out into the deep and caught a multitude of fish. James and John were able to witness this great miracle.
There are so many mini lessons that can be taken from this amazing parable. 1.) God is faithful to His word and there is power in His words because he is the living Word. 2.) When God speaks a word, gives a command or directive, there is ALWAYS a blessing in being obedient to it and 3.) God will always provide. Being a fisherman was a business and to be able to catch a multitude of fish was definitely good for business.
But we tend to miss the BIGGER MESSAGE:
And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.”
Luke 5:10-11 (KJV)
Verse 10 and Verse 11 sum up the bigger picture so beautifully! Yes, God has and will always provide in all facets of our life, but that’s not what this parable is truly about. He said Fear not, don’t worry about “catching” or obtaining all those tangible, yet temporal things in life because that’s not what this life is about for a Believer. As a Believer your main goal, your main focus should be to catch MEN! Only what you do for Christ will last.
Our one true assignment on this side of earth is to catch men or grow God’s kingdom. Yes, we do that through prayer, inviting friends and family to church and telling others about Jesus. However, “launching into the deep” resonated in my spirit. If the world doesn’t know a scripture, doesn’t own a Bible, or won’t step foot into a church, YOUR life should always be your biggest testimony! Does your words, your actions and your life speak of who God is? Does your life give a testament of how great God is? Does your life show God’s love, grace and mercy?
I begin to think about how having John and James witness this great miracle helped them recognize the Messiah. See once we recognize God we understand the importance of sacrifice and giving up “things” to follow Him. Also, once others recognize the light in our life, it draws them. See the more God, the more light we have in our lives the more we draw others out of darkness into God’s marvelous light. Once we truly recognize and know God, we understand He’s all we need. Once we realize that God is all we need because having Him means we have everything we will have no problem with “forsook all” or giving it all UP to Follow Him!!!
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