Jesus Moves us Along, Closer and Closer to Himself: RRE 35
Religion Ruins Everything Daily 10.15.16 from One Life Network on Vimeo.
5 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
Luke 5:3–11 ESV
Jesus didn’t make a big difference between evangelism and discipleship. It didn’t matter if they disagreed with him or were right there at His side, Jesus spoke to most people the same way. He was always helping His hearers move along towards trust and faith in Him. In this interaction with Peter, Peter made some small (or big) steps closer to Jesus.
Peter trusted Jesus Peter said “We’ve been fishing all night, but if you say so…” and he did what Jesus told him to do. This was a lot of trouble and showed that Peter had trust in Jesus. Since the fishermen were already on the shore, they would have been cleaning up, so to cast their nets in would be starting all over again.
He repented After this event, Peter realized his own unworthiness to be around Jesus. He could see that Jesus was a holy man, sent from God, to be able to work such miracles and have power even over the fish in the lake.
He was called Jesus didn’t just catch a bunch of fish for them so they could be full of fish, He wanted to show Peter what fishing for men would look like. He gave Peter a calling and a way to participate in the Kingdom of Heaven in his own unique way.
Jesus works the same way among us today. He might call us to big steps or work tiny incremental steps in us and in the people around us, but He is always drawing us closer to Him.