Lately I have been meditating on why did Jesus choose to use the analogy of fishing when he sent his disciples out to share the good news. I don’t know about you but I have always been puzzled and wondered why he chose to use this metaphor instead of instructing them to gather or recruit others.
The more I contemplate about this the more I can see that when we fish we can only throw a line or a net into the water. What we fish or pull out is not up to us but up to the fish available that day and which of them are willing to bite the bait or swim into the net. So our only role is to fish and make the net and the line available and for God to deliver a result if He wants to. What is worth noticing is that if we take this example of fishing and practically look at it from our perspective then it is extremely important that we understand that what is mostly responsible for attracting others to us and the God within us is the way we love and treat others. The fisherman doesn’t get to select what fish he catches. He simply goes fishing. Like him we too do not need to laser focus our fishing on anyone in particular.
So how about we love everyone that crosses our path extravagantly this week and remain open and present to see what part we are invited to play in the awakening journey of someone God may choose to send our way? All we have to do is have an open heart (His net) and like always He will do the rest.
Remember – If we try and control this kind of “fishing” then we need to understand that attempting to manipulate this process to gain a result will very likely leave us with mind manipulated converts instead of heart transformed disciples.
-pablo-
Photo by Andrea Pucci
