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| October 11, 2001 |
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| "And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gen-nes-a-ret, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fisherman were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. 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 enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake." Luke 5:1-6 Here, we have Simon Peter, cleaning his nets after a night of fishing failure. When Jesus told him to go back out, Simon could hardly believe his ears. Did Jesus really expect him to go out there and start throwing his nets again? Right after he had finished the messy job of cleaning them up? And after an entire night of tough work, accomplishing nothing? You can almost picture Simon's face in disbelief! Had he not followed Jesus' order, quite likely we never would have heard of fisherman Simon, who became Peter, the heroic disciple. He would have "missed the boat" ~ the chance of his life! This was a crucial turning point. Jesus was giving a discipleship test. Was Simon's faith up to it? His answer proved it was! Today, our Lord still poses such discipleship tests for us. The tasks He assigns are not always to our liking ~ to be His witnesses when we fear we'll be rejected, to attend church services on a day when we normally get to sleep in, or even taking a percentage off the top of each paycheck for the Lord's work, and so on and so on. Quite frankly, most people would rather not. But in doing so may mean missing the chance of a lifetime. Peter did not lose a thing that day by taking the Lord at His Word ~ Neither shall we! Application: Humble your heart, and keep your minds clear so that you will be ready for the discipleship test our Lord has prepared for you to act upon His Word today and everyday. As Simon Peter reaped, in his faith, so shall we. Let us trust always in His Holy Name! God bless you with a wonderful day in the Lord! Love in Christ, Sandy |