Gone Fishing...

Was reading Luke 5:1-11 today. Interesting things to note:

1. God was preparing Peter's heart for service ahead of time. (See John 1:40-42) Andrew, Peter's brother, had been a disciple of John the Baptist, and brought Peter (then named Simon) to Jesus. Jesus announced to Simon that his new name is Peter, which means 'rock'. This guy Peter must have been blown away. Here he is, a fisherman. And now he's told by the Christ that he is a 'rock'.

There's a lesson here for us to contemplate. He prepares us for His service ahead of time. Our heart starts to contemplate the Christ and what He means to us.

2. Jesus asks Peter to do something outside his 'comfort zone'. To place his boat in the water to basically be a 'stage' for the audience on shore to listen to Jesus. I'm sure a lowly fisherman would not want to put out his boat to be gawked at by a bunch of folks. I wonder what he was thinking as he was steadying the boat while Jesus was teaching.

He'll ask us to use our occupations, like Peter's, to be used by Him in the service of others.

3. Jesus gets through, then tells Peter to put his nets down for a catch. Now Peter is hit hardest here. He's a man's man and definitely knows how to fish. Here's a carpenter telling him what to do. He balks at first. (Don't we?) "But God, I already did this....or that...." He is then blown away by the catch.

Jesus can make our career very successful for a season if and when He wants to. But many times it is a test. Are we loyal to the job, or the Lord?

4. The success brings Peter to repentance. The feeling of unworthiness. The knowledge that he did nothing for the success, that it was of the Lord.

It's a humbling thought to know that many of our success stories are solely the hand of God in our lives, but many times we say it's luck, or fate, or what-have-you.

5. In spite of a success in his career, Jesus calls him not only to be a disciple (a follower of Christ), but to call him to a different vocation. He says that Peter is to now be a 'fisher of men' instead of a 'fisherman'.

I've looked around the Bible for examples of a 'vocational calling' to ministry. Here is one staring me in the face. Peter is to be credited for extreme obedience to the calling in the face of his seemingly successful occupation. (The fish filled two boats to the point of sinking.) I'm sure this was a very successful outing that would have brought him money for a while, but the real success is of the Lord, not quantified by money or worldly goods.

What a lesson for me today. True success is quantified by God's glory, not my pocketbook. Wow.