Becoming Fishers of Men
There are some things that we learn best by being trained by another person who has mastered that thing. Yes, we might be able to read a book or listen to an audio lesson to learn the same thing, but we would never be able to do it as well as being trained by an expert with a lot of experience. This is very important when it comes to living the Christian life. There are some things we will never do well unless we are learning them from Jesus Himself.
When Jesus was calling His first disciples, some of them were fishermen by trade. He called them to leave their boats and their business and follow Him. They did that. Then, Jesus explained why He called them to follow Him. (Mark 1:17) Jesus told them to follow Him, and He would make them become fishers of men. They knew how to catch fish, but Jesus knew how to catch men and women for the Lord. We need to do the same thing.
Notice, the command is "Follow Me." In order to follow Jesus, we have to listen to Him, submit to Him, and learn to do what He does. It is to become like Jesus. It takes a lot of time and effort, plus the power of the Holy Spirit coming to conform us to the image of Jesus. If we do not follow Jesus well, we will not become like Him, no matter how smart we are or how strong we are. Therefore, we will never be a fisher of men if we are not following Jesus by engaging Him in every aspect of our lives.
Then, He makes us become fishers of men. We can't do it by reading a book or taking a class on evangelism. We might learn the basics, but we must become like Jesus and see things the way He sees things. Then, we will have His heart and His mind. We will have His spiritual eyes to see the person the Lord wants us to seek for Him. We will follow Jesus's direction, and we will see people come to know the Lord. So, if we are not catching men and women for Jesus, we are not following Him as we should. It is not a lack of education. It is a lack of a close relationship with Jesus.
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Tomorrow, I intend to read Mark 4-6.