I had a hard time coming up with a title for this week’s blog. I have the honor of being a sponsor for a young man at my church as he goes through confirmation, and one of our tasks as we meet together is to read through the book of Luke together. Our reading for this last week, really struck me in a neat way, and I am happy to share a few thoughts with you today, as muddled as they might be.

We were reading in the 4th, 5th, and 6th chapters of Luke for this week, and I was blown away by Luke’s telling of the calling of the disciples in chapter 5. The chapter opens with Jesus teaching the people from Simon Peter’s boat, and following his teaching he asks Simon Peter to head to deep water to catch a few more fish. Simon Peter listens to the advise of Jesus and proceeds to catch more fish so that both his boat and that of his partners begin to sink. Now here is the part that really spoke to me, immediately after this experience, Jesus asks Simon Peter, James and John to follow him, and they do. Verse 11 says, “So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”

How incredible is that. So many people are prone to follow Jesus, to seek him out, when their lives are in shambles, when they are at their wits end. Instead we see these fisherman, after the catch of their lives, just walk away from it all. Now I don’t know about you, but I would have wanted to tell all my fishing buddies this little tale. I would have wanted to make a profit off of the incredible catch of fish. This was their livelihood, this wasn’t a weekend get away up at the lake. And they walked away.

I can’t help but think of all of the times that I wanted to bask in my own glory. Any time that I have had accomplishments in the past, I have always wanted to stick around and receive the complimentary pats on the back, that I thought I deserved. But that is not the example that is lived out for us. What would you be willing to walk away from? It is easy to walk away from heartache or difficult situations, but what if God asked you to walk away from your success as well? I hope that I can be as obedient as these disciples to be ready, to be prepared to follow not only in failure, but also in success.

The “greatest catch” wasn’t the pinnacle in the lives of these disciples. Jesus was leading them to something so much more rewarding than fishing for fish, he was leading them to fish for men. Regardless of your job or your career, if you dare to call yourself a Christian in this world, I pray that your true successes would be measured on how you share the love of Christ with your families and neighbors in both word and deed; and not on how high you can climb the corporate ladder or the size of your catch!

February 24, 2010 <> Michael Warneke

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