Read
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Mark 1:17
Reflect
When I was a little guy, my family used to take vacations at a small cabin in Ruidoso, New Mexico. One of the things we always looked forward to was trout fishing. My dad would take my brother and me to a little trout farm that had some ponds, and we’d each get cane poles and a tiny cup of corn. He’d bait our hooks with a piece of corn, and we’d dip the line into the water where hundreds of hungry trout waited for a corn dinner. After maybe a minute, we’d have a tug on the line, and if we pulled up the pole just right, we’d have trout for dinner.
It was always a lot of fun for us, but the one drawback to fishing that way was that it didn’t paint an accurate picture of how hard fishing really is. Fishing requires patience and timing. You have to know where to look for the fish, and you have to be willing to wait until one takes the bait. And then you have to have the patience to reel the fish in without breaking the line. It’s hard work, but it’s rewarding when you catch the big one.
For the fishermen who followed Jesus, fishing was even harder. It involved the casting of nets, and they had to be experts at knowing where to cast. Fishing was their livelihood, and empty nets meant empty pockets and empty stomachs. Jesus approached these men who spent their lives pursuing fish and gave them a new opportunity: Put that same patience and timing and effort into reaching people with the good news of the Kingdom of God.
It is the same calling He gives us today. Those who follow Jesus are called to share the good news with others and invite them into the Kingdom of God. Our faith is not meant to be held tightly to ourselves. It is meant to be lived, spoken and offered with love.
It may not be as easy as baiting a hook with corn. It will likely take patience and timing because people are not projects, and faith cannot be forced. But the effort is always worth it when even one person hears the Gospel and begins to follow Jesus.
This week, think about someone God may be placing in your life. Pray that the Lord will give you the right opportunity, the right words and the right heart to share the Gospel with them.
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Reflection copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
