Go Fish

I'm not a fisherman.  Never have been.  I've tried it a couple of times and never really enjoyed it.  It was kind of boring, a little smelly and less face it, there is NO WAY I'm going to clean a fish!! So really, what's the point?  

But God calls us to be fisherman!  I know, I know, not really for fish, but for men.  But let me tell you I have ALWAYS struggled with this, because frankly, I don't like to fish!!

My daily devotional has me working my way through the book of John right now.  And this morning the devotion once again really spoke to me.  The scripture was from John 4 when Jesus met the Samaritan woman to the well.  The devotion pointed out that Jesus CHOSE to talk the road less traveled (didn't he always!).  Typically, Jews wouldn't travel through Samaria but would go MILES out of their way to avoid crossing paths with these unworthy people.  But the Bible says Jesus "had to go through Samaria".  He HAD to, this is why he was sent here.  Not to avoid the unworthy but to embrace them.  Because Jesus went where no other Jews would go the Samaritan woman, her family and friends were saved.  They put their faith in Him and they were saved.  

Jesus was truly a "fisher of men".  

How many people have I brought to Christ?  Honestly?  Not many, think of a number that looks a lot like the letter "O".   That's embarrassing.  I would like to think that I have been a part of many peoples journey, maybe I was influential to someone at sometime, maybe some child understands God more fully because of something I have said, maybe someone is now closer to God.  But I have not taken someone's hand and led them down the road, all the way to the finish.  I have not been any kind of fisherman.  But then I don't really like to fish.  I don't spend a lot of time in places where fishing happens.  I'm not talking about a lake here.

I would be the person walking miles out of my way to avoid Samaria.  Not because I didn't want to be around the unworthy necessarily.  More because that is what I was taught to do.  That's what everyone else did.  So that is what I did.  That doesn't make it right.  In fact, it is very, very wrong.  And this really hit home today.  If I'm going to be a fisher of men, I need to be where the fish are.  And fish tend to stay out of the highly populated areas.  

If I want to be the fisherman God is calling me to be I need to go where the fish are.  I need to step out of my comfort zone and Go Fish!