The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (Jn 1:5 ESV)

There are times in our lives that can seem so dark and low and dreary that you start to think you will never see the light of day again. You feel like the whole world is just weighing down on you and life is nothing more than a chore that you have to go through day after day. Strangely, even those who are in Christ experience these low times - sometimes, I believe, even worse than non-believers. God seems so far away. But... we know that God is never farther away from us that a simple prayer or a word of Scripture. That really is a miracle of this thing we call the Christian life, isn't it? The fact that we can just cry out to our Creator and He actually hears us. Not only that, but He is eagerly waiting for us to do just that so He can respond with His incredible grace. That, I think, is what keeps me going sometimes - just the sheer marvel of God. Who He is. What He does. How He can love even the most vile sinner enough to want to turn him into a saint. No other religion or belief system can make this claim - that the God of the universe loves His creation and want to be in relationship with it. That is truly amazing grace.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:1-11 ESV)

Big Catches, Career Changes and Second Chances

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:1-11 ESV)

This is an amazing story, not just for the obvious - the great catch of fish and the men leaving everything to follow Jesus, but for even the little things.

It opens with a crowd pushing on Jesus to hear His message so much that He decided to get off shore for some breathing room. Once He was done, He suggested a little fishing trip. Simon was an experienced fisherman and knew what he was talking about when he expressed he doubts about going out again. You can almost hear Simon thinking "Get this guy... he thinks we're gong to catch fish during the day after being out all night. But hey, let's humor him." But what was he thinking as the nets were breaking with all of the fish? Something obviously clicked in Simon's head when he droped to his knees, in a boat-load of fish, and told Jesus to depart from him. I think Simon suddenly realized that he was dealing with something much bigger than he imagined and that Jesus was no ordinary teacher. It was one of those Isaiah-like moments when all you can say is "Whoa is me - I am toast" (okay, so I paraphrase).

Then something astonishing happened: Jesus tells these fishermen to join Him in "catching men"... and they go. They left everything. Remember that these men had families, jobs, homes, friends, all of the things that come with life. Imagine poor old Zebedee, wondering where his sons are going when there was work to be done. What did Simon's wife, or his mother-in-law, think as he walked off with this itinerant teacher? Did you ever wonder, too, if the reason Jesus blessed them with such a big catch of fish was to provide for the families while they went on their mission?

One other thing to remember is that these men were raised in the Jewish custom of teaching the young boys the Hebrew Scriptures until about age 10. At that point they would either be allowed to follow a rabbi who saw potential in the young student or, if they just didn't have what it took to be a rabbi-in-training, they were dismissed from schooling to learn a trade. Simon, James, John and the others there fishing had pretty much flunked out of rabbi school and had resigned themselves to a life among fish. Now this Teacher, this Rabbi, comes along and gives them another chance to live the life every young boy, and his mother, dreams of.

What would our response be if God were to ask us today to leave everything to follow Him? Would we just drop what we were doing and go, leaving family, home, church, job and everything else? Or would we hesitate like others we find in Scrpitures? I struggle with this. I'd love to say that I would not hesitate and march off to what He calls me to, but I just don' know. I have so much that I live for, but, when you boil it all down, there is just one thing that really matters. I want to start living my life focused on and devoted to God so much that I could honestly say, without any doubt, that I would go. I want another chance to live the life God has meant for me, no matter what that means or where that might lead. The only way I can do that, though, is by God's grace and power.

The Church As It Was Meant To Be

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."

Acts 2:42-47 (ESV)

The picture painted for us by Luke of the disciples in Acts 2 is a portrait of what the church should be today: in fellowship with one another regularly. Now it would be easy for us to say "Well, sure, they could do that kind of stuff back then. But they didn't have to commute to work and take kids to all these activities, and so on and so on." And we would be right... to a point. The one point that seems to stand out with this group is that they made this fellowship a priority - they were intentional in making the time for it, not just finding the time.
There are four main areas of discipleship in this passage as well: 1. They were "devoted to the apostles' teaching"; 2. They were devoted to "the fellowship"; 3. They were devoted to "the breaking of bread"; and 4. They were devoted to "the prayers". There is little chance of a believer, and the church, not growing under these conditions. When people are given the truth of God's Word, brothers and sisters to connect and share with and a way to connect with God through prayer, spiritual growth will happen. But this cannot be just a once- or twice-a-week activity that gets mingled in with soccer practices, home projects and the TV schedule. Imagine what could happen if the Body of Christ decided to be intentional about meeting with one another regularly and really focused on what the Bible says. Imagine the transformed lives and the impact on our world. It was said of these early believers that they were turning the world upside-down. What would it take for that to be said about us?
Joy is contagious, and it's nearly impossible for a believer to not have joy when they are in the Word and in fellowship with other believers. Luke tells us that the disciples went to the temple together, ate together, and shared everything with each other. So is it any surprise that their hearts were glad and generous, and they were praising God? And what was the response of the people around them? Rather than being scorned or mocked, these early believers had "favor with all the people." And we can have the same. When we devote ourselves to becoming more and more like Christ, others are going to be drawn to us. And when we do that, I truly believe God is going to bless us by adding to our numbers daily.