Fill Our Nets!

“And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’” Mark 1:17

How is your faith when it comes to sharing the Gospel? That might be a question you haven’t been asked in a while, if ever at all…but it is an important one. When Jesus met the first of His twelve disciples, He made the mission clear: Follow Me so that I can make you a fisher of men. In other words: Follow Me so that you can cast the net of the Gospel and bring others into My family. And the last words He spoke to that very same disciple are found in what we now call the Great Commission: Go and make disciples of all nations…Fishing for men, making disciples…they are the same. Our mission as Christ followers is to share the Gospel of Christ.

This mission requires faith…not in ourselves, but in the power of God to save. We will never boldly share our faith if we think our weakness is an issue. We must believe Jesus’ words in John 15:5 when He said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” I love that Jesus used fishing as a metaphor for sharing the Gospel. Fishermen can’t make fish swim into the net or bite the bait on the hook. All they can do is lower the net or cast the bait. Then, they simply wait. They hope. Maybe they pray that the fish will bite.

We need a fisherman’s mentality for evangelism. All the hard work and education in the world won’t cause people to believe our message and trust in Jesus. But faith will. “If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you,” Jesus said in Matthew 17:20. He spoke similar words in John 14:13, “Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Those are some hefty promises, aren’t they? How many of us really believe them? How many of us share our faith confidently because of them?

So let’s think like fishermen. Let’s prepare ourselves by knowing the Word, and then cast our nets where the Spirit leads, trusting that He will bring people into our net as we trust Him with the results.

Jesus, I want to be a fisher of men. Help me to follow You and trust You to accomplish Your mission despite my shortcomings. Make me into a bold and faithful messenger of the Gospel. In Your name I pray, Amen.