Going Fishing – Devotions for 4-23-25
John 21:3 “Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing’. They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’”
People who know me know that I like to go fishing. I love to go after fish of almost any kind in any place. That happens when you grow up at a fishing resort, either you hate fishing, or you love it. Most people in my family love going fishing.
Many of the first disciples were also fishermen. They fished differently, with nets instead of rods and reels, but the idea is still the same. They also sold what they caught to make a living.
So, after Jesus died and rose from the grave there was a time between seeing Him die, rise and appear to them again and his promised return to see them in Galilee. When He first rose, Jesus told the women to tell His disciples that He would see them in Galilee, where their homes were and where they grew up fishing. That is also where their boats and nets were.
As they waited for Jesus, some grew impatient. What should they do? They didn’t like waiting around, not many people like to just wait around for someone else. So, into that waiting time Peter, who was a professional fisherman by trade before meeting Jesus, says to the rest, most of whom used to fish with him, “I’m going fishing.”
That is what we often do too, when we get bored or tired of waiting for someone or something else, we return to what we know, what we were used to doing. So, Peter, and the other fishermen, return to the boats they had given up on a few years earlier, and went out fishing through the night.
Here is the thing. It isn’t usually good to go back to what you used to do, especially if it is just because you are bored and if the Lord has already led you out of it. Jesus had met these men at the shore where they used to catch fish three years earlier and called them to leave their nets and become fishers of men. What were they doing returning to the boats Jesus called them away from?
Now fishing isn’t bad. People need something to eat and fish makes for good food. So, there was nothing wrong with going fishing. Unlike what some people are called away from, like the woman caught in adultery, going back to fishing didn’t seem like a problem. But when Jesus calls you to something different, going back to what you used to do isn’t what you should do. We should always seek to know why God created us and what He wants us to do. Doing anything else is wrong, even if it is otherwise ok or even good.
To go fishing for fish when Jesus called you and trained you to fish for men is wrong. For the disciples to go back to the boats they left, which were no doubt being used by others now, and return to what Jesus called them from, was wrong; for them. For others it was good, but not for those called to a different calling.
What did God create you to be and do? What are you doing? If what you are doing isn’t what you know God created you to do, you need to do what you can to go and do what God wants you to be doing.
For me, I always thought I would work in an outdoors industry, in the fishing industry, but Jesus called me to be a pastor. So, though I still love fishing, it isn’t for me to be doing as a profession, just a hobby. So, my boat is small, but my work is big. Let us keep doing what we know God created us to do, not what is easy or works for today.
Pastor Gary.
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