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Do the Work

Sometimes I sit down to write and it just seems like I am trying to write with a pen without ink. There is simply nothing productive coming from the activity. Other times, God just pours it out on me. The ideas flow and the message comes together with ease. More often than not it's the former rather than the latter. It seems God likes to make us work for it. The ones I have to work a bit harder on become the ones I like the most. I think we appreciate the things we have to work for more than the things that come easy.

Our LifeGroup recently read about the Miraculous Catch of Fish. You know the story where Peter and his buddies have been out fishing all night and came back to shore completely empty handed. That next morning, Jesus asks them to take him out in the boat. Once out on the water, He has them put the nets back down and they bring in loads and loads of fish. So many fish that two boats almost sank. 

I guess Jesus could have just made the fish jump into the boat. Or when Peter and the guys were out fishing the night before, He could have filled their nets. Instead He made Peter and the boys, who were surely tired from a night of fruitless fishing, row out and drop nets. They then had to pull the overflowing nets up from the water and into the boat. I can imagine the difficulty they experienced pulling up so many flopping and shifting fish. It had to be heavy and made heavier with all of the movement. 

Proverbs 12:14 says, “From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things, and the work of their hands brings them reward.” I think Jesus didn’t want to rob Peter and the guys of the reward of doing this work by their own hands. Of course, Jesus was at work, but by making them pull the fish in they became partners in the story with Jesus. Isn’t that the way it was at creation? Genesis 2:15 says that God took Adam and put him in the Garden Eden to “take care of it”. Everything man needed provided, but it required a bit of work on the part of man. 

Jesus is calling each of us to be partners in His story. When we trust in Him, He will surely provide. But rest assured, we have responsibility. We have action to take. We have work to do. 

Be blessed and be a blessing,
Matt

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