MATTHEW 13:47

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish."

TO PONDER

I don't know how many of you go fishing regularly. Growing up as a kid my dad regularly took my brother and I fishing. I'm ashamed to say I did not learn as much from my dad about fishing as I probably could or should have, but I do remember one specific conversation very clearly.

We were sitting in his boat in Portland Harbour and had been catching a few fish. It was not a super productive fishing day, but we had at least caught a feed. When we pulled back into the boat ramp at the end of our trip, many others who had been out on the water fishing that day, were surprised to see anything in our fish bucket. My dad engaged in polite conversation with these people, not wanting to be rude but also not wanting to give away all his fishing secrets. On the way home even I asked him, "dad how come we were able to catch fish today when so many other people did not catch anything?" To which he replied, "Most of those people went fishing without a plan about what fish they were trying to catch. I knew if we were going to have any chance of catching fish today it would be to target this particular fish and so everything we did was aimed at just catching those fish and ignoring any of the others.

I guess fishing with a net is different to fishing with a line. A net will catch whatever type of fish happens to be in the area of the net. When you fish with a rod or a line, you can really only catch one or maybe 2 fish at a time. The net Jesus describes caught all kinds of fish and that is what is special about the advancing and continuing story of God is that his kingdom is for all people. And yet, sometimes we can see large groups of people come into the kingdom at once, like fishing with a net. Other times a more individual or targeted approach is necessary. That is why each of us have a part to play in Jesus mission to be 'fishers of men'. God has uniquely gifted each of us with the right skills, personalities, and interests, to draw different individuals, different types of people, into his kingdom. We each might take a different approach, use a different technique, but neither might be right or wrong, it depends on what fish Jesus is asking you to catch.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you called your disciples to be 'fishers of men'. Please continue to help me to become an effective 'fisher of men and women' so that people of all nations, backgrounds and cultures might come into your advancing kingdom of love and mercy. Amen

Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle