The text above is pulled from the account where Jesus appeared
to some of his disciples that had been fishing, unsuccessfully, all night.
Jesus told them to throw their nets on the right side of the boat…the very nets
that had caught zero fish all night…into the same waters that had produced zero
fish all night. Yet they did as instructed…and to their surprise, the nets were
filled with so many fish that they could not bring them into the boat. Miracle?
You bet it was! But what strikes me about this story is the enthusiasm and
passion that Simon Peter showed when he realized it was the Lord calling to
them from the shore…the very Lord that had recently been crucified…the very
Lord that he knew had died on the cross. Now he was alive! And Simon Peter
wasted no time getting to him, jumping out of the boat, fully-clothed, leaving
this massive haul of fish behind. Do we show the same enthusiasm in our lives
today? When we have an opportunity to be in the Lord’s presence, do we jump out
of the boat into the water, leaving everything behind and pursuing him at all
costs? Or do we make logical excuses for standing still…do we explain that the
water is simply too cold, that our clothes are new and will get damaged by the water,
or that potentially losing the source of income (fish) will be just too
damaging to our lives? God is alive and well in our lives each day…he is there
leading our steps, guiding our words, and shaping our thoughts. We can choose
to pursue him…with the same passion and enthusiasm as Simon Peter…or we can
simply sit in the boat and wait for more convenient, comfortable or logical timing.
I pray that we seize the opportunities to pursue the Lord today…with the excitement
and zeal of Simon Peter…casting aside anything that gets in our way, pursuing
him at all costs! And when we come to rest in his presence, I am confident that
we will question why we would ever want to be anywhere else. To God be the glory!
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