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John 21 tells us that several of the disciples decided to go fishing in the Sea of Galilee, but they caught nothing. We can most certainly compare this record in John 21 to many of the situations we’re dealing with today. We get up each morning and prepare ourselves to go fishing in this big sea we call life. It should by all accounts offer us everything we could ever hope to catch, but sometimes we pull back our nets and they are empty. This is what happened to the disciples on the day they went fishing. John 21:5(NLT) tells us that Jesus called out to them and asked, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?” and they replied “No!” He then told them to do something that wasn’t normal to their usual way of operating. It was then that they stepped outside the rules and came face to face with a law that you and I must know and follow if we expect our nets to be full.
The lessons of John 21 are plain and simple, yet tremendously profound and life-giving. This record of the disciple’s fishing expedition is so easily understood that if you and I read the passage on the fly, we might miss the many lessons it offers. For instance, consider the question that Jesus Christ asked the disciples. He asked them a question of which he knew the answer. He knew they had not caught any fish, so the critical question you and I must ask ourselves is why did he do this. Why ask them the question if he already knew the answer? The wisdom of what Christ did by asking the question marked a line in the sand for the disciples and for us as well. When you and I answer a question by speaking what we believe is the truth, we must then acknowledge and confront where we are in our circumstances. We then have a barometer for measuring where we will ultimately be.
Jesus Christ told the disciples in John 21:6(NLT), “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.” The Master told them what to do differently. When they heard his instruction, they followed it, and they received prosperous results. God’s laws work this way without fail. They are incredibly predictable, and they work with a mathematical precision. In His Word, we learn that He is a God of order, and that He has elevated His Word above His name. He does this because His Word will never fail. Every time that any person follows God’s Word, the results of what His Word promises are guaranteed.
The disciples understood normal. It’s what they faced every day. They understood fishing because it was common practice during the time in which they lived, and it was also the profession of some of them. Normal is where they camped out, but this man, Jesus, was not normal. So, the disciples had to make a choice. They had to make a choice between what they knew and the possibility of what the ‘abnormal’ might bring. This same choice is before each of us today, but make no mistake, to breach the walls of normal, you and I must do something different.
They could have ignored what Jesus said and kept doing what they were doing. This is an approach many people choose today but won’t admit it. We hear the Word of the Lord, but we keep doing things our way. We want everyone to think we’re normal, doing the things normal folks do. But we need to understand that ‘normal’ will keep the extraordinary shielded from our eyes. The disciples were ready to see something different, because being in the company of Jesus had awaken the purpose within them.
In other words, the disciples were willing to give up what their prior experience had taught them in order to abide by a higher law than they fully understood at that moment. You and I must comprehend that the disciples didn’t just all of a sudden decide one day that they possessed everything needed to follow this man, Jesus. They were born with the purpose of a disciple already in them. It was written in their conscious. They were predestined for that purpose. Jesus woke this up in them. God didn’t force them to follow Jesus. They surrendered their will because they wanted what Jesus offered. They gave up everything to follow him, and we must do the same. It is our destiny.
Many of us are trying to get to a place where we witness a dynamic move of God’s power in our lives, but we don’t want to surrender to His laws. We want to enjoy the comfort of all we’re used to, and we want the rewards of those who no longer cling to these comforts. God’s laws are absolute, and when we follow them the rewards are a predictable reality. He has built the rewards within His Word, and these rewards are set to automatic when they are obeyed. But when they are not obeyed, our nets will not be full, because we are not living the destiny and purpose that is within us.
Jesus Christ said in Matthew 7:21(NIV), “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” God requires a full surrender. Everything within us must be submitted to God’s Will. We must be ever so careful about becoming ‘normal’. We must take great care not to be so conformed to the world that we can no longer recognize who we are destined to be and what we are purposed to do. The law of life is that God’s Will must be obeyed. Following His laws means making the choice to always put His Will first, and to follow Christ. When we do this, our nets will be full and we’ll have all the rewards we will ever need.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
“Don’t Be Normal”, written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2019. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.
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