By David ReayTuesday 27 May 2014LifeWords DevotionalsCultureReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read John 21:4-6
4 At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach,but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. 5 He called out,”Fellows,have you caught any fish?”
“No,” they replied.
6 Then he said,”Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat,and you’ll get some!” So they did,and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it. (NLT)
It is so easy to go on doing the same old things with the same old lack of results. And yet we are wary of trying something different. We have got used to doing certain things in certain ways. We may even call it persistence or faithfulness. Individuals and churches can go on beating their heads against a brick wall in the name of such faithfulness.
We even resort to that half-truth: we are called to be faithful not successful. The fact is,we are called to be fruitful as well as faithful. Always being careful to measure fruitfulness wisely and not condemning ourselves for not seeing great or instant results.
We can learn something from the disciples as they tried the different thing,the unexpected thing. These fishermen presumably knew what they had been doing but also sensed this stranger on the shore might have some wisdom. After all,there was no harm in trying what he suggested. The results were obvious.
This is no invitation to do something radical for the sake of it. Rather it is an invitation to be open to Jesus pointing us in a new direction,engaging in a different ministry,using different methods. This,too,is faithfulness. Butting our heads against a brick wall doesn’t produce fruit; it just gives us a headache. So be open to the possibility of letting your nets down in a place or time or way you didn’t expect. We may thus avoid headaches and actually produce much fruit.
Blessings
David Reay