And He said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)
I will be honest; I hate fishing. And especially if I’m supposed to throw the fish back! I just don’t understand the point…
My dislike for fishing actually grew on a recent camping trip, during my devotional times! Every morning, I would watch the sun rise above the hills as I sat reading my Bible and, every morning, a young couple would set up right in front of me with their gear. They would hook up several fishing lines across the shore of the lake, then sit and gossip while they drank their beers in their lawn chairs. Occasionally they would “catch” something on their lines and go fiddle with the fishing pole, then sit back down. If there were a fish on the line, then they would reel it in and throw it back into the lake.
Day after day, I watched this occur, and it finally hit me — that’s how I fish! Clearly I’m not really fishing for fish, but I would venture to say that most Christians (myself included) evangelize like modern fishermen. We throw out a few lines like, “what church do you go to?” and hope someone bites. And even if they do bite, rarely do we follow up and yank the line. Instead we cut the line and leave them to swim in the lake. Continue Reading →
