Why did Jesus choose a lot of fishermen to be his
disciples?
Other than the well-known
reference to them becoming “fishers of men”, I’m thinking there might be some
qualities fishermen have that could help them in their approach to God.
It’s interesting to note that when an experienced fisherman
fails to catch fish, he doesn’t get personally offended, but tries to look at
things from the fish’s point of view. He
doesn’t blame the fish, but takes into account the weather conditions, the time
of day, the lure he is using, and what worked in the past. He gives an honest self-evaluation of his
methods. He takes a sort of trial-and-error approach,
and, if he still has nothing to show for his efforts, he decides there must be
some factor he wasn’t considering and resolves to come try again another day.
That’s the sort of patient wisdom I found in James, about
50, a man fishing in our local park.
Even though he is really a beginner at fishing, I found in him the
wisdom of an experienced fisherman when it comes to relating to God. About 20 years ago James decided to begin
reading the Bible and relating to God on a sort of very patient, trial and
error basis. He found smaller claims and
promises in the Bible and decided to take God up on his word.
He told of disappointments, but rather than assuming God
didn’t exist or didn’t care, he patiently decided to try to see things from
God’s point of view, to consider that there might be other factors or changes
needed in his approach to God. He even
realized that often his prayers weren’t always meant to make God grant him his
wishes, but to reflect on how he might be better conformed to God’s will.
Matthew 7 says “Which of you, if your son asks for bread,
will give him a stone? Or if he asks for
a fish, will give him a snake? If you,
then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
James knew that he didn’t always get what he asked for from
God. But he was willing to reflect on
his prayers and knew that he didn’t always ask for what would be best for
himself, and that as our heavenly father, God would withhold from him those
things he was foolish to ask for in the first place. He had learned to trust God’s word in the
Bible and that God would meet his needs.
Unfortunately his faith in God had become comfortable and
had stopped reading the Bible the way he did 20 years earlier.
When I talked with him there by the fishing pond, he had
settled in to just trying to be a good person by his own standards and effort,
slipping further away from the truths and power of God’s word in the
process. He had developed his own
version of the Gospel, one in which Jesus came primarily as example of how to live,
but had stopped short in his quest and missed the truth of the Gospel, that
Jesus had come primarily to die for sinners.
How many people approach God like this, trusting Him for
blessings in this life but unprepared for the next? The temptation is to believe that since all
seems well in life now, we will have God’s blessings for eternity. But the elephant in the room, the one we
can’t afford to ignore, is our sin and the just punishment we deserve.
James may be content and grateful for blessings now, but how
much more when he knows of God’s blessings for eternity? I hope I was able to encourage and remind him
to keep “fishing” in his relationship with God, helping him see his need for
the Savior. Maybe one day as a result,
he too will become a fisher of men as he realizes the blessings of eternal
salvation are just too good to keep to himself.
See our conversation HERE
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