God Speaking

“Come follow me”, Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

(Matthew 4: 19)

My husband was an avid fisherman and when he was a little boy, in Australia, his father, also an avid fisherman, taught him how to feed the worms on the hook, where the best place in the lake to throw the line and then the patience to wait for that exciting tug on the line that signified a fish had taken the bait. When he grew up, the ocean was the next place to practice his skills, but when we moved to Canada, he then had to learn quite a different skill to catch trout in the cooler waters here, and again became proficient not only in casting, but in learning how to make the intricate little flies that attracted the trout.

I was thinking about him when Jesus spoke somewhat strange words to his first disciples, “I will make you fishers of men.” And another strange memory came back to me. When I was younger, I joined a group of women in my church who had a weekly Bible Study. Once a month we had a lunch to which we were encouraged to ask friends and neighbors to attend. The idea was to tell others who may not be believers to come and know Jesus. Our leader had a name, just between ourselves for this lunch, “Sanctified Bait”, to inspire us to become fishers of men.

The leader explained that when Jesus told his disciples that they were going to be fishers of men, he was telling them that they were to attract others, so they longed to find out who Jesus was. This was not for their glory but to glorify the Heavenly Father.

Jesus told this to his disciples.

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15: 8)

When my husband was making replicas of those tiny insects that lived in the lake, he had to make sure they were exactly like the real ones so that the trout would be attracted to them. That was what our leader was telling us to be, a copy of Jesus and how he showed us how to live so we would exhibit his love /compassion/ forgiveness to others so they would want to seek him for themselves. Not for our glory but for the glory of the Heavenly Father.

So how do we do just that?

If we want to be true replicas of Jesus, we must look closely at how he lived while on earth, to listen to his wisdom, absorb his commands, and remember that he has given us his Holy Spirit to help us to do that and to keep in touch with him daily through prayer and reading God’s word.

Paul entreats the new believers to have the attitude of Christ.

“Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2: 5)

We can learn to become, “Sanctified Bait”