Daily Devotional for Tuesday, August 29

Fishers of Men

“And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him,” Mark 1:17, 18

If someone were to come to you and say, “Hey, come with me,” what would be your first response? Most of us would immediately ask, “What for?” That is just human nature, and probably good sense, as you never know what they might be getting you into. Our problem is that we tend to do the same thing to our Lord.

In the passage above, we see Jesus walking the shores of Galilee forming His first church from among some of the men fishing. While this was probably not the first encounter these men had with Jesus, their response was still astounding. They just packed up their stuff, turned their backs on their livelihood, and went with Jesus. Sometimes we see the four men Jesus called on that shore characterized as poor, unlearned fishermen. If that were the case, they would have been ripe for the plucking by any charismatic leader who wandered along. The truth is, the families of James and John, and Peter and Andrew likely earned a decent living doing what they did. They turned their backs on something of substance to follow Jesus.

Yet it seems today that many cannot be bothered to read their Bibles, go to church more than twice a month or speak to another living soul about the man we supposedly know as Lord and Savior. Nothing ever changes, really. Throughout history, some have been willing to give it all to God, some begrudgingly give a little and some give nothing. Jesus made it plain during His ministry that He wants us to be prepared to renounce everything in order to follow Him—after all, He gave it all up in order to save us. Is it not the least we should do?

JUST A THOUGHT: Some people are willing to give up everything for Jesus, and some people do nothing. Which one are you?

Wally Fry