From Now On
But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.
Luke 5:5-6 (NKJV)
It had been a disappointing night for Peter, Andrew, James, and John, because they had absolutely nothing to show for an all-night fishing expedition. We’re not talking about fishing as a hobby; we’re talking about fishing as a means to take care of one’s family. Not one fish was caught, and these men have returned to shore with empty boats, exhausted and discouraged.
Then Jesus approaches and tells Peter, “Push out a little more from the shore. In fact, go out into the deep and let down your net for a catch.” Peter has to be thinking to himself, “How much can this guy really know about fishing?” So he responds to Jesus, “We were out there all night, Jesus, and we caught not one single fish, but because You’ve asked me to, I’ll oblige You. I’ll comply with Your request.”
Well, as soon as Peter and Andrew cast their nets into the water, they realized that they were in for quite a spiritual surprise. In fact, they had to bid James and John to come help them pull in all the fish. And it’s at that moment that Peter knows he’s let his doubts and his experiences force him into an initial response that limited his belief in the impossible. Peter drops to his knees with personal regret. He makes his confession of shame. He reveals that he thinks he’s not even worth Jesus being in his proximity. And Jesus ministers to him in a way that I think every one of us needs to celebrate.
“Simon, don’t be ashamed. I’m not rebuking you for who you have been up until now. That’s why you responded the way you did. All you’ve had to go on are your life experiences up till now. But from now on I’m going to teach you how to fish for men.”
That phrase “from now on” is what God is saying to you today. “From now on, I’m going to stretch you and I’m going to grow you. I’m going to pull on you, I’m going to push you, I’m going to challenge you. I’m going to embolden you in the face of difficult circumstances. Your responses, from now on, are going to be much more faith-infused than doubt-strained.”
Will you allow God to elevate your faith to next level, from now on?
Faith and Doubt
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
John 20:27-28 (NIV)
Thomas has carried a bad rap for his expression of doubt concerning Jesus’s resurrection. But Jesus did not condemn Thomas or judge him harshly or dismiss him because of his doubt. That’s because Jesus saw Thomas’s doubt as a bridge. He saw his doubt as a catalyst, as a stream, as a path to mature his faith. Thomas’s doubt was not a deterrent to his faith. It actually fed his faith and it put him in the exact place to be transformed into a deeply convicted witness who would then impact lives and lead others to Jesus.
Many of us have been far too hard on ourselves for nursing doubts in our lives. We carry doubts about the paths that we are on and about where those paths are leading us and the decisions we have made and the decisions that are beckoning us as we press to move forward. Every single person, Christian and otherwise, carries doubts. We often feel guilty for carrying doubts and are disappointed in ourselves that we have them.
But the Lord knows you love Him. He knows that you know He’s real. He knows that you worship Him and believe in His Word. He knows that you believe in salvation and that you’re grateful for redemption. He also knows you carry doubts.
And while faith and doubt do coexist, they don't have to be adversaries.
Faith and doubts are not enemies when belief is the field upon which they engage their tension. Thomas never doubted Jesus. He only doubted that Jesus could come back from the dead the way that He did. And because his doubts and faith were wrestling on the field of an already certain assurance that Jesus is real, Jesus stepped between Thomas’s faith and doubts to give him assurance and a new awareness.
Your doubts are not to be hidden, suppressed, or ignored. Instead, allow faith and doubt to wrestle on the same playing field of an anchored spiritual belief in Jesus.
The Mystery of God
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.
1 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV)
The mystery of God is not that He intends to keep from us things that we don’t understand. Rather, the mystery lies in the fact that He wants us to stay focused on Him and trust in Him as He reveals Himself to us in His own time.
That’s why you’ve got to pay attention to the incidental things in life that mystify you. They should cause you to fixate on Jesus until He reveals Himself. This is what Paul was conveying when he wrote about the mystery of the resurrection. We may not fully understand it, but we know that it will happen. At the sound of the trumpet, the dead will be raised and those who are alive will be transformed. The perishable will be replaced by the imperishable, and the mortal will be replaced by the immortal.
There is a mystery surrounding the gospel as well. The mystery of the gospel is revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is through His sacrifice on the cross that we are able to receive the gift of salvation and be freed from sin, guilt, and death. This may seem like foolishness to those who do not believe, but for those who are being saved, it is the power of God.
Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because he understood that it is through the mystery of the gospel that we are able to receive life out of death and be saved by grace. Through the death of Jesus on the cross, our sins are forgiven, and we are able to receive the gift of salvation.
Let us not be ashamed of this mystery, but rather give thanks for the gift of salvation that has been given to us through Jesus Christ. Let us trust in God and His mystery, and worship and pray until He reveals Himself to us in new and relevant ways.
Your Motivations in the New Year
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV)
If you examine your motivations, it will reveal to you what and who you are becoming.
And here's the good news: you can change it if necessary, and you can do it at any time by simply becoming motivated to live more responsive to Jesus, more responsive to His Word, more responsive to His will.
One day, an eager young man from Stanford University applied for a part-time position at the school. The man who was doing the hiring and the interviewing said to him, “All I need now is a typist. That's the only position I have left. I filled all the other ones.” This certain young gentleman said, “Well, I'll take that job then, because that's what I do. You need a typist? I am a typist. But I can't start until next Tuesday.”
On the next Tuesday, the young man showed up and reported for work. Sometime during the day, the employer said to him, “Glad to have you here, but I’m curious…why could you not come in until today?” The young man answered, “Because after you said I could have the job, I had to run out and rent a typewriter and learn how to type.”
Do you know who that young man was? It was Herbert Hoover, who later became the 31st president of the United States. And now we understand why and how he became the president of the United States—because he fed his motivations. The motivations for his achievements were based not on who he was, but on who he believed he could become.
I don't care who you are. I don't care where you're stuck. I don't care what things are holding you in bondage today. That might be where you are, but that doesn't speak anything relative to who you can become.
Last I checked, eyes haven't seen and ears haven't heard and minds haven't conceived the great things that the Lord has in store for you. No matter how many people tell you that you can't accomplish something, you can be motivated to accomplish it if you believe it's who God is shaping you to be.
What a Privilege
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 20-21 (NIV)
Can you imagine being told by an angel that your son will save His people from their sins, and that His kingdom will be established and will never have an end?
Joseph and Mary weren't at all naive about what this virgin pregnancy was going to mean for them. They were well aware of what this challenge was going to mean in terms of sacrifice.
We often focus on the obedience that was necessary, the tough nature of this divine assignment, the sacrifice that it required, the interruption of God's plans on Joseph's life, the threat to his personal reputation, and the chatter that would stir regarding his character and his honor.
However, a fresh reading of this text angled my lens on none of these considerations. Instead, I kept thinking to myself, when pondering Joseph's place and purpose in the birth of Jesus, “Joseph, I understand why you accepted the assignment. You never saw it as an interruption. You didn't see it as the unexpected. You didn't view it as the unwanted. You treated it like a privilege.”
What an honor, what a blessing, what a humbling thought that God purposed human redemption and included Joseph in its facilitation.
When I thought about Joseph's immediate response to take Mary home to be his wife, I saw it as quite an easy decision when viewed as his embrace of the privilege of being invited by God to partner with this teenage woman in His divine plan.
This pregnancy may have been an interruption. I concede that it was even so difficult to grasp that it necessitated an angelic visitation in order to be believed.
But the only way Joseph could have responded in obedience in the fashion that he did is to awaken from that angelic dream thinking, “What a privilege to be used by God like this. What a privilege to serve God like this. What a privilege to be in love with a woman like this. What a privilege to share life with her like this.”
This was a tough assignment for Joseph, no doubt. And we too are commissioned by God to steward tough assignments in life. They vary in their details. They sprout up in different ways. They pull on each one of us differently. But if you are called by God, you’ve got some tough assignments.
The question is, are you going to view them as an interruption or as a privilege?
