Readings: Lamentations 3:22-23, I Peter 3:8-15, Luke 5:1-11
Anyone who enjoys fishing knows that patience, many times, is the name of the game. You can have the best pole made, the ideal bait, the best conditions...but once everything is put into place, it comes down to simple patience. We've all watched the fisherman that puts a line in for a minute or two, reels in, recasts, lets the bobber get settled and then, just when you think it looks good, it gets reeled in yet again.
Fish like to take their time before they commit to getting caught--kind of like people.
In Luke 5, Jesus called the first disciples from a life of fishing in the conventional sense to begin fishing for men, i.e. winning them over to eternal life. And, as a leap of faith greater than they ever took while guessing where the next big catch might lay, these men followed Christ--a man they barely knew. Christ told them, "Don't be afraid; from now on, you will catch men. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed him" (10-11).
So, do we want to get caught? What's in it for us?
Well..how about a life on this beautiful earth of living in harmony with one another? Those of us who are "caught" "live in harmony with one another, love as brothers, are compassionate and humble, not living a life of paying evil with evil or insult with insult, but rather with blessing" (I Peter 3: 8-10).
It makes me glad I took the bait. You, too, I'm guessing.
"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Peace be with you.
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