When Fishing Isn’t a Sport: The Call to be Fishers of Men

Picture the Lord Jesus walking along the Sea of Galilee. He’s hearing the sea lapping up against the shore. He’s hearing the seagulls and watching them fly overhead. He’s feeling the sand as it gently flows over his sandals and experiencing the sea breeze blowing in his face. Then suddenly, He looks out into the bay, and there he sees two men. One was named Simon, who was called Peter, and the other was Andrew, his brother, who were fishermen casting a net into the sea. As He looks at these men, with a gaze that could arrest the heart of any man, the Lord Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).

Notice first that it was a very simple invitation. It only consisted of two words. Jesus said, “Follow Me.” Though it was a very simply stated invitation, the understanding and response became more challenging because of the guidelines that need to be established in a leader-follower relationship.

If a leader-follower relationship is going to succeed, it must be determined who will lead and who will follow. That was a problem for a natural-born leader like Simon Peter, and it might be a problem for many of us who like to do our own thing in our own way.

The second challenge in following Jesus involves concentration. We must focus our attention on the Lord’s character, where He is leading in our lives, His plan and call, and what He wants us to do. There are so many distractions in this world that tend to hinder us from hearing His voice.

The final challenge involves our commitment. We are fairly successful at being hearers of the Word, but more often fail at doing what it tells us. We know that Jesus calls us ambassadors, ministers of reconciliation, and His witnesses, but are we “fishing” yet?

Part of our problem is that we forget the transformation that Jesus promises. He said, “I will make you.” We know we don’t have the gift of evangelism, don’t have answers to questions, don’t feel comfortable talking, etc. But we forget that it is Jesus who enables us to overcome every excuse we can come up with. Jesus is the master fisherman, and He will enable us to successfully “catch” people. But, Jesus only promises to change those who will follow!

It is not unusual to end up as experts who talk about fishing for men. We know how to bait the hook and what kind of lure to use. We learn all about how to fish for the loud-mouth, speckle-bellied atheist and which bait works best with the salt-water Pharisee. On a shelf somewhere, we have a tackle box full of memorized Scripture, clever questions, and some very old tracts. Yes, we’re good at talking about fishing. But we’re not so good at actually fishing for men. If we’re not fishing, are we really following?

Lord, help me to effectively engage with people. Forgive me for squandering opportunities to share Christ, for not having a broken heart for those without Christ, and for failing to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, who gives believers the power to witness. Beginning today, I commit to pray more, to share more, to expect more, and to be transformed more, so that angels would rejoice more, so that God’s Kingdom may be increased, and so that His glory might be multiplied! GO FISH!