Fishing for Friends

Jesus said, I will send you out to fish for people. Matthew chapter 4, verse 19.

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Fishing for Friends was written and read by Kirsten Holmberg. Matthew chapter 4, verses 18 through 22. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, called Peter, and his brother, Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people. At once, they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother, John. They were in a boat with their father, Zebedee, preparing their nets.

Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Fishing for Friends. Patty spent the afternoon on the banks of a local river using her fishing pole to cast bait into the water. Having only recently moved to the area, she wasn't hoping to catch fish. She was angling for some new friends. Her line wasn't baited with worms or any other traditional lure. Instead, she used her heavy-duty sturgeon rod to extend packets of cookies to people who were floating down the river in rafts on a hot summer day.

She used this creative way to meet her new neighbors, who all seemed to enjoy the sweet treat. Patty went fishing for friends in a much more literal way than Jesus intended when he invited Peter and Andrew to walk with him through life. The two brothers were hard-working fishermen casting their nets into the Sea of Galilee. Jesus interrupted their labors with a call to follow him, saying he would send them out to fish for people instead of fish. He made the same invitation to two other fishermen, James and John, shortly thereafter.

They all left their nets and boats immediately to journey with Jesus. Like the fishermen who became his first disciples, Christ invites us to follow him and focus our attention on eternal matters—the spiritual lives of those with whom we interact. We can offer those around us what really satisfies the enduring hope of life with Jesus.

Let's pray. Dear Jesus, please help us to become fishers of people so that others will know you better. We have been given through you this beautiful gift of knowing what satisfies deeply the enduring hope of life with you. We thank you for this, and we pray it in your name. Amen. As you go about your day, reflect on these questions. Who first shared with you about Jesus? How might you offer others the hope he provides?