There is no such thing as a Christ-follower who isn’t actively engaged in God’s mission on earth to make his name known among every nation.
After Jesus spoke to the crowds from a fishing boat in Luke 5, Jesus told Peter to go into deeper water and let down the nets to catch some fish. But that’s what Peter had been doing all night: casting and picking up, casting and picking up—with no fish to show for it. Peter is a professional, and he knows when the fish aren’t biting, and Jesus telling him to give it just one more toss is a little insulting. (Plus, Jesus is a carpenter, not a fisherman, and Peter must have thought, “Listen, if I’ve got a wobbly chair, I’ll call you, but don’t be giving me advice about fishing.”)
I’m sure he replied respectfully but with a little irritation, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing.”
Long pause.
“But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”
This is the pause with eternal significance—when Peter’s heart is filled with doubt, but he decides to obey anyway. Peter’s life is transformed because of that pause! Then, they catch a boatload of fish, so much that they needed reinforcements to bring it all into the boats.
“When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, ‘Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!’ …
“‘Don’t be afraid,’ Jesus told Simon. ‘From now on you will be catching people.’ Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him” (Luke 5:8–11 CSB).
Peter and the disciples show us the three characteristics necessary to become a disciple-making disciple and be part of the unstoppable movement of the gospel around the world. Read More
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