"I will make you fishers of men." I absolutely LOVE that line. I love to fish, even though I'm not much for eating my catch. Fishing is so peaceful and relaxing (to me anyways). It for sure requires patience. Recently, I've heard a comparison between fishing and hunting. Hunting is aggressive and most of the time you only get one shot. If you miss, then you scare off whatever you are hunting. Fishing, however, requires patience and quiet. If you miss the first time, the fish has tasted the bait and will most likely come back for more.
Such it is with being fishers of men. It is not meant to be aggressive or forceful but patient and quiet. The question I ponder (and would love an answer to but may never get anything other than opinions): who is the bait? Jesus calls us "fishers of men" so does that mean his presence in our lives is the bait? Does HE "bait" people into our lives? Once there are those people (or fish) in our lives, do we then become the "bait"? Do we "lure" or "reel" them to Jesus? Just some thoughts I have floating around my head as I write this.
One thing I noticed about Jesus' recruits for fishers of men is how quickly they responded. Simon and Andrew left their nets to follow Jesus. More impressive to me are James and John who left their nets AND their FATHER (Zebedee) sitting there as they choose to follow Jesus. They all dropped everything when Christ came calling for fishers of a different kind. They left their "careers" and family, they left the familiar to walk with Christ and help him in his ministry here on earth. How quickly do we jump away from life as we know it to follow Jesus and spread His word? If He calls us to be fishers of men, will we drop our nets and walk away from family and familiar to follow Him?
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"One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers -- Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew -- throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, "Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!" And they left their nets at once and followed him.
A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind."
~*Matthew 4:18-22*~
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