Gone Fishing

Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”

Mark 1:17

When Jesus calls, his call includes a promise. His call to do is wrapped up in his promise to empower. The essence of his call is this promise: “When you follow me, I will transform you. You will be a different person from who you were before you chose me over everything else in your life. You will have power that surpasses your training and abilities. Follow me, wherever I go.”

Not all of us are called to earn our living through a professional ministry position, but we are all called to full-time service. I think the important parts of the call are not to leave fishing per se but to leave what we look to for security, what we draw our identity from, and what occupies our thoughts and attention. Transfer all that to Jesus. Simon and Andrew were still fishermen after they followed Jesus, but they were different men.

The call to discipleship is a call to follow Jesus day and night, not just at a whim. His call is not to a task but to a relationship: “Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls’” (Matthew 11:28-29).

He is calling you to cling to him, to adhere to him as if you were superglue. These days we have a new definition for the word sticky. We use it to describe a website with such engaging content that once you land there, you just can’t leave. Do you know that Jesus is sticky in that way? Follow him, and he will engage you so completely in what he is doing that you will discover just how sticky he is. If Jesus is a fisher for people, then you will be a fisher for people too. The promise is that whatever Jesus is doing in your personal world, you’ll find yourself smack-dab in the middle of it.

All to Jesus, I surrender. I choose to rest in you.

Looking unto Jesus is at the same time a looking away from everything else.

Erich Sauer(1898–1959), German theologian and writer