Overflowing

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

OVERFLOWING

Luke 5:4-11

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."  5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men."  11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

NIV

This is such a familiar passage of the bible, well known to many believers. We read it and with encouragement mostly thinking about the catching of men, that is we should be out there preaching the good news so that others might escape death as we have. Yet, the narrative also includes the idea that Peter worked all night without success, and fishing was his life, his trade, he was skilled at fishing, making his living from his boat and nets. In this particular scene, Peter was not doing well at his trade; in fact, he caught nothing at all. But when Jesus got involved in the trade of Peter, his catch was more he could haul in himself, and he needed two others, James and John to bring their boat to help with the extraordinary haul of fish. Here is our life lesson. We can apply all our knowledge and skills to attain the success we want in life, and perhaps many can achieve a multiplicity of things, but is it because of our greatness, our great knowledge, or is it because of the involvement of Jesus in our lives. Boasting about our achievements, and yes even all the things we do in the kingdom, our service, our ministry, all the deeds that we do are nothing, if Jesus is not involved, however, we he does get involved then we can boast about Jesus, rather than ourselves. Yes, we have a skill, a trade, a profession, just like Peter had, but with Jesus getting involved with us, whatsoever we do will prosper, for we do not take that advice of the ungodly, and we do not walk through life the same way the ungodly do, and we do not mock God, or give him lip service, but we delight in his ways, and we meditate day and night about God’s ways. Thus we will be just like a tree planted by living waters, Jesus, and our leaves, our works will not wither, and whatsoever we do will be a catch so large, a blessing so huge we will not have room to contain it. When we live with Jesus involved in our lives, blessings will flow from heaven, and our nets will break because of the vastness of what Jesus caused in and for our lives. So we walk with no fear because Jesus told us not to be afraid, he will do the work in and for us, to overflowing.