Fishers of Men

Even though I have a fishing boat I still hire a guide to go fishing. Why? Because when I go with a guide we catch fish… when I take my boat out I don’t catch fish.

One thing I’ve learned from the guide is… where the fish are likely to be and if we go to that place and don’t find fish he won’t waste much time there… he’ll go to a different place.

Another thing I’ve learned is what kind of hook to use and how to set it. If we’re “free lining” and letting a live bait swim wherever it wants to he will wait for a bite and then slowly lower his fishing pole before he snaps it back and sets the hook.

If we’re fishing under a float he’ll use a treble hook and he says that type of hook doesn’t need to be set.

If we’re fishing for flounder he knows a flounder will just hold the bait in its mouth for a while before swallowing it. So he waits for a while before he sets the hook.

We have a member at church that will paddle out 8 miles to the oil rigs and always brings back fish. This same fisherman can be in an area crowded with boats and no one is catching fish except him.

Remember when Jesus said to his disciples… “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”. Of course Jesus was the master fisherman of fish and men.

Sometimes as Christians we don’t catch fish because we aren’t fishing in the right places. We generally are only fishing in places where all the fish have already been caught. Like at the church building or among other righteous people.

Sometimes in cases like that we give up and say things like… “Well the fish just aren’t biting today” when maybe we should try fishing in another place where nobody else is fishing. Just how bad do you want to catch a fish? Will you paddle out eight miles into the Gulf?

Sometimes we just keep throwing the same old bait out and wonder why we aren’t catching fish. Did you know that you can’t catch Black Drum on live bait? You have to use dead shrimp. Maybe you can’t catch every kind of fish just by quoting Acts 2:38 all the time. Maybe you need a different scriptural approach. Maybe first of all you have to consider what kind of fish you are dealing with. Is it a Nicodemus fish or a Samaritan woman fish?

You might have a well-read Bible and know it backwards and forwards but just can’t seem to find the fish or catch them.

Maybe if you really want to catch fish you have to admit first of all that you don’t know that much about fishing and hook up with someone who does. Like a guy like me who has a boat and everything you need to catch fish with but lacks knowledge and experience and hires someone who does have the knowledge and experience so those things can be learned.

Some people love to go fishing so much that they might fish all day long and even if they don’t catch a fish they have had a good time. Me? I like to catch fish. One of the greatest fishing guides I ever met was Harold Dowdy who came and preached a Gospel meeting for us and taught me to fish.