"And Simon answering said unto him,
Master, we have toiled all the night,
and have taken nothing:
nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net."
Luke 5:5

A Test Of Discipleship

When we read in Luke about the miracle of the fishes,
we can almost hear in exclamation,
Simon Peter's voice.
He probably couldn't believe his ears.
Was Jesus asking him to go out and throw his nets
again? Right after he had just finished
cleaning the messy things up?
And after a whole night of catching not a one?
We can almost picture his face
clouding with retort like,
'Nothing doing! I'm no fool!'

Yet, had he not followed Jesus' instruction,
we would never have heard of
fisherman Simon, who became Peter,
the heroic disciple.
And he would have missed the chance of his life.
Jesus was giving a discipleship test.
Was Simon's faith up to it?
Apparently it was, for he cast his net once again
and "enclosed a great multitude of fishes."

Our Lord still poses such discipleship tests.
The tasks he assigns are not always
to our liking . . .
to be His witnesses when we fear rejection;
to attend church when we feel like sleeping in;
to teach fidgety children in Sunday School;
to take a large percentage off the top of our paycheck;
to give our time when our schedules are hectic;
to offer a helpful service to the needy,
and so on.
Quite frankly, most Christians, would rather not.

But not doing so, may mean missing the chance
of a lifetime.
Simon Peter did not lose a thing that day
by taking the Lord at His word.
And you know what?
Neither shall we!

May the good Lord provide you with a
humble heart and alert mind
in preparation for His disciple test
to act upon His Word.
 
     

"Lord Dictated Them"