-Matthew 4:19
Jesus told His followers that they would be fishers of men. This promise wasn't something optional. If we follow Jesus, we will BE fishers of men. So, why are more Christians not going fishing? We all have our reasons for not being more active in our spiritual fishing excursions. Most likely, we're not intentionally neglecting our jobs as fishermen. We're just distracted or too busy or too shy or...something. But fishing is something we ought to be doing. It's not a nice addition to the Christian life. Fishing for men, finding the lost, and pointing them to Christ is our primary mission as Christians. Jesus' last command to his followers before he ascended was...go tell others and make disciples.
("Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, bapitizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Matthew 28:19-20 )
With that in mind, let's have some basic fishing lessons over the next few days.
Lesson #1 is very basic:
The fish are in the water.
Perhaps one reason that some of us don't catch any fish is because we're looking in the wrong place. I sat on the beach quite a lot about a week ago, and do you know how many fish I saw flop up onto the sand waiting to be scooped up? Absolutely none. I didn't even SEE any fish in the water, even though I knew they were there. By just sitting on the beach, I was essentially ensuring that I would encounter ZERO fish.
If all we do to reach the lost is to sit in church every Sunday and wait for them to come in the door looking for God or for truth or even just for help...we're in the wrong place. The church is important, and the teaching that goes on at church is important. But it's not the only thing that we need to be doing in order to point people towards God's kingdom. The average person who is not a believer already is unlikely to come to a church, even when they realize that they need SOMETHING and don't know what it is, or even when they encounter a problem and realize they need help. Many professing Christians don't think of God, or even of the church, as our first response when we encounter a problem...why do we assume that non-Christians will just stumble onto that wise course of action when we don't do so ourselves?
Maybe some of us need to start our fishing expedition by getting outside of our comfort zones, taking our faith beyond the walls of the church, and finding a place where there are actually some fish to catch.
