WHO does not enjoy a day at the sea? Better still, a fortnight, or a month! There is something so fresh and invigorating in the air, and the wide expanse of the ocean is so different from anything we see inland, that the very sight of it cheers us up! How delightful it is to get down close to the waves and watch them gracefully breaking on the shore, and to walk along looking for shells, sea-weed, etc., and breathe the lovely air We shall not have to go far before we come to some fishermen, perhaps like James and John when Jesus called them, mending their nets; or we may be fortunate enough to meet one just going out shrimping, fully equipped, like the one in the picture.
What a wonderful message, or call, Jesus gave to Peter and Andrew when they were casting their net into the sea. (Mark 1:16, 1716Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 17And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. (Mark 1:16‑17).) Do you remember what He said? They were spending their lives catching fishes, and selling them in the markets for food. The Lord Jesus told them He had something far more important for them to do.
“Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." What did He mean by "fishers of men"? Let me try and explain.
But the Lord Jesus came "preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God." He wanted subjects for HIS kingdom, men, women, boys and girls; and Peter and Andrew, and the other disciples, were to be the ones who first started to gather people into that kingdom after the death and resurrection of Christ. Do you remember what a great catch of "fishes" Peter had when he preached that wonderful sermon on the day of Pentecost? (Acts 2) About three thousand souls were converted in one day; what a net full! That is what Jesus meant by being a "fisher of men.”
Have you been caught yet? I have, thank God. It is a most wonderful thing to belong to God's kingdom. We have to enter it "as a little child," by simply taking Jesus as our Savior and Lord, and trusting Him for our soul's salvation, and for everything else. Then He enrolls us in His kingdom, and from henceforth we belong to Him. It is now our duty and our pleasure to obey Him; and it is easy, because we love Him. The law of His kingdom is LOVE; we love Him because He first loved us.
It is a kingdom that will never end, and there is no death there. If we should die down here, it only means that we are transferred to His "heavenly kingdom" to which we belong already; and very soon Jesus is coming to fetch all the rest of us who are alive; then we shall all be together with Him, and that forever.
Will you not join up now, to-day, just while you are reading this? "How can I?” you say. Lift up your heart to Him and say, "Lord Jesus, Thou hast died for me; take me just as I am, and make me Thine forever!" And remember, He has promised that those who come to Him He will never cast out.
“Suffer little children to come unto me, and
forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of
“Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him
in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto
you, except ye be converted, and become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of