BY ELAINE SELLS
We all remember the story from Luke 1-11 when Jesus takes the disciples fishing in a new way. One thing to learn from that story is why some people don’t catch fish.
Some people don’t catch fish because they refuse to go into deep water. Jesus told Simon his disciple, “Let’s leave the shallows and go to the deep.” Everybody knows the schools of big fish are in the deeper water. And the first rule of fishing is you’ve got to go where the fish are.
But we shouldn’t limit this to fish only. We could substitute fishing in a new way for abundance or wisdom or love, healing or peace. All those things we want in abundance. Some people don’t catch these things because they simply refuse to go deep. Deep water is where the increase is. Deep water takes faith. Deep water is a risk. Focus of mind and heart are needed. The visibility in deep black water is next to nothing. You’ve got to trust the words and directions of others who have passed through deep water to make it there. Jesus is always inviting people to the deeper end of things.
But shallow water is pleasant. It tickles our ankles when we walk in it. The minnows and the half-grown fish gather there. You can see all the way to the bottom in shallow water. Staying in shallow water is such a temptation. Shallow water doesn’t take a whole lot of courage. But Simon the disciple knew the minnows couldn’t feed him. They couldn’t fill him. The minnows weren’t the desire of his heart. The deep water of faith is where those things we say we want are swimming around. The fishing in shallow water is where we begin the adventure, not where we finish.
We Hear God’s Instructions to go Fishing :
Forgive a whole bunch. Bless those who curse you. Give abundantly. Visit the jails. Worship the Lord in church and be the church. Forget your life and you’ll have a ball.
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves; when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little; when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when in the abundance of the things we possess, we have lost our thirst for justice and the water of life.
Stir us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.We ask you to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope and love to come to understand fishing in a new way. Amen!
written by Elaine Sells