“I’m going fishing,” said Peter long ago. It was evening and a good time for casting his fishing net into the sea. Peter was a skilled fisherman, and he didn’t fish just for fun. It was how he earned his living. His father was a fisherman too.
Peter was old enough to have many memories stored up in his mind. Some of his were very special memories, because he was alive when Jesus lived on earth. He had been there when Jesus was crucified and buried, and he had seen the empty grave on that wonderful morning of His resurrection. He was also one of those who had seen Jesus, twice, since then.
Now Peter and six others were out under the stars with their dragnet, and he knew the ways of fish. It would be a good night.
But it wasn’t. They had fished hopefully during the long night hours, but when the morning light began to glow in the eastern sky, they had caught nothing. Not one single fish.
Have you found your life to be like that? All your hard work adds up to nothing; your nets are empty and the future looks empty too? Listen to this story, because it is true. God can command the fish, and He can give you much better than you can ask or hope for. “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:2020Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, (Ephesians 3:20)).
Those seven fishermen saw a Man standing on the shore. There was no halo around His head; He looked like an ordinary man. This Man called to them and asked them if they had any food.
“No,” they answered.
Then that Man Jesus told them to cast the net on the right side of the boat and they would catch some.
How could Jesus know that? How could He tell experienced fishermen how to fish? Do you not know that our Jesus is the Creator of all things, and everything is under His control? Are you remembering that He is the Son of God? They cast the net on the right side of the boat, and it was so full of fish that they could hardly drag it into the boat.
Now there was one man in the boat who knew for a fact that Jesus loved him, and he said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”
Peter’s heart answered at once, I want to go to Him! And he put on his fisherman’s coat and jumped into the sea to go to Jesus at once. Never mind the fish . . . the others could drag them in.
As soon as the boat came to shore, the fishermen saw a nice little fire there, burned down to hot coals, and fish laid on it and bread.
“Bring the fish you have caught,” Jesus said. Peter pulled in the catch. How many fish were there? One hundred and fifty three . . . and they were big ones!
We don’t hear any more about those fish. I am sure they were not wasted, but Jesus Himself was the important One, and those men were important because Jesus loved them.
I wonder if you have learned that you are important because Jesus loves you. Never mind the failures or the successes. Jesus knows how to change the failures and use the successes to make your life what He wants you to be. What is most important is having Him in your life!
They had a wonderful breakfast that morning, because Jesus Himself cooked and served it with His own hands. And they were wounded hands, because He had already been crucified and risen from the dead. His resurrection body was not hungry, but He knew that they were hungry, and He made the breakfast for them that they liked best.
He still lives to supply our needs. There was a long, lonely, dark, hopeless night before that meal, and perhaps life is like that for you now. Be of good courage. You will see Him in the “morning,” and He will not go away as He did when He went up into heaven and left His followers here.
To be with Jesus in heaven will be far better than the best feast you ever had in your whole life. If He has put some disappointments in your life now, let Him use them for His perfect plans. But keep watching for the “morning” when He will call all those who are cleansed from their sins to His home in heaven. “He that shall come will come, and will not tarry [delay]” (Hebrews 10:3737For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. (Hebrews 10:37)).
But I have a question for you. Have you been cleansed from your sins? If not, don’t wait! or you’ll be left behind. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)).
ML-08/08/2004