Dear saints, let us pray that the saints would realize that preaching the gospel is to be fishers of men, which requires contacting people patiently, again and again until they are “caught” unto life and brought out of the world into the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 4:18-20; Luke 5:9-10 and note 10-2; Acts 11:18).
This was the Lord’s calling of Peter by means of a miracle in fishing…The Greek word for catch alive is a compound of living and to catch; hence, to catch alive, to take captive alive (in war), instead of killing. The common fishers catch fish unto death. But Peter was called by the Lord to be a fisher of men (Matt. 4:19) that he might catch men unto life (Acts 2:38; 11:18). Luke 5:10, footnote 2 on, catching.
To fish for men requires patience. Peter, a quick person, may have learned this in Matthew 17:24-27. After Peter gave a hasty answer concerning Christ’s paying the half-shekel, the Lord Jesus asked him, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive custom or poll tax, from their sons or from strangers? And when he said, From strangers, Jesus said to him, Then the sons are free” (vv. 25-26). Then the Lord went on to say, “But that we may not stumble them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel; take that and give it to them for Me and you” (v. 27). Peter, no doubt, was troubled that he had to go fishing and wait for a fish to appear with a shekel. As a result, Peter may have learned that a fisher of men must have patience. If we would be fishers of men, gaining others for Christ’s increase, we also need patience. We cannot have the increase, the multiplication, in a quick way. Patiently we should contact others again and again until they are “caught” and brought out of the world into the kingdom of the heavens. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 107, pp. 1155-1156)
More details via Beseeching.org, day 358.
