Re-Learning to Fish

How comfortable do you get in your daily routine?

We spend a lot of time building a safe, predictable life. When an opportunity comes along to step out, I know I have a full list of reasons why I can't. My job demands too much. I have responsibilities to my family. I like to think I'd drop everything to follow, but I know how easily I cling to valid excuses. We assume God only calls people who have plenty of free time and everything figured out.

But Jesus didn't head to the synagogue to find the smartest, most educated theological minds. He chose the everyman.

He walked right up to Simon and Andrew while they were working in the family business. They were fishermen, working class guys who probably didn't do well in school and weren't the brightest around. But Jesus met them right in the middle of their everyday routine. He didn't wait for them to clean up or sort out their lives. He just called them right where they were.

I think everyone can identify with at least one of the twelve disciples. Maybe you've cheated someone in your past like Matthew the tax collector (Luke 5:27–28), or you have a tendency to doubt what you can't see or don't understand like Thomas (John 20:25). No matter what your flaw or vice is, there's a disciple you can relate to.

What amazes me isn't that these men were special, but that when Christ called, they actually went. They knew that what Christ had for them was bigger than whatever they were doing at that moment.

When Christ gives me the opportunity to fish, I hope I have the brains to stop clinging to my comfortable routine and cast my line to the side He tells me.