Exercising Faith
The story of Jesus commanding Peter to launch out and drop the nets for a catch of fish is one of the best examples of what it means to exercise faith in the Bible. (Luke 5:5-6) I believe a brief explanation and reflection on what Perter replied to Jesus will benefit us all greatly.
The professional fisherman referred to Jesus as "Master," which shows his reverential respect and submission to Jesus from the start. Then, the professional fisherman who knew that the time to catch fish was at night in shallow water, which he had tried to do the night before with no success told the Lord, who was an earthly carpenter, that he would launch out and get his clean nets dirty simply because Jesus commanded him to do it, not because he understood how he would catch anything. When they let down the nets, they caught so many fish that their nets were breaking under the weight of the fish. They had to bring them to shore in more than one boat. Even then, the boats began to sink under the load of fish.
Faith is hearing from Jesus, either as He directly speaks to our hearts or in His Word, the Bible, and submitting to His commands and desires as completely as we can, whether we understand why He is asking us to do it or not. Jesus blesses simple faith in such a huge way that we can't imagine all He does for us. He rewards our faith in what He says, because He knows that the abundant life is found in this obedient faith, and He desires for us to have the abundant life.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Luke 6-8.
The professional fisherman referred to Jesus as "Master," which shows his reverential respect and submission to Jesus from the start. Then, the professional fisherman who knew that the time to catch fish was at night in shallow water, which he had tried to do the night before with no success told the Lord, who was an earthly carpenter, that he would launch out and get his clean nets dirty simply because Jesus commanded him to do it, not because he understood how he would catch anything. When they let down the nets, they caught so many fish that their nets were breaking under the weight of the fish. They had to bring them to shore in more than one boat. Even then, the boats began to sink under the load of fish.
Faith is hearing from Jesus, either as He directly speaks to our hearts or in His Word, the Bible, and submitting to His commands and desires as completely as we can, whether we understand why He is asking us to do it or not. Jesus blesses simple faith in such a huge way that we can't imagine all He does for us. He rewards our faith in what He says, because He knows that the abundant life is found in this obedient faith, and He desires for us to have the abundant life.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Luke 6-8.