By CFFM Staff
With God and Jesus, it’s never too late. Never too late for a second chance or another opportunity. And when you take care of God’s stuff and honor Him and His Son, He always takes care of you.
Jesus was (is!) a busy dude. In the span of one chapter – in this case, Luke 4 – he starts with two life transformations. He casts out demons in a tortured man, and heals a bedridden woman completely.
The word flies around town, and suddenly Jesus is besieged with people seeking wholeness and healing.
“Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them….And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.” Luke 4:40-42 NKJV
Jesus just could not get a break! He begins to preach in the synagogues of Galilee, ends up by the Lake of Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee), and again the Bible describes the crowd pressing in around him.
So, he jumps in his buddy Simon Peter’s boat, and asks Simon Peter to put out a little from the land. Jesus continues to preach to the crowd from the boats.
Now, we find out a few verses later that Simon Peter had been fishing all night. He and his fellow fishermen had worked extremely hard, and gotten nothing. They were actually cleaning their nets when Jesus asked him to go back out on the water.
They were getting ready to quit – but they did it anyway. They did what Jesus asked them to do.
And when Jesus was finished preaching, when his work was complete, he asked Simon Peter to do one more thing.
“When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch. Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing! But at Your word, I’ll let down the nets.” Luke 5:4 NIV
Simon Peter is done. He’s tired, probably hungry, and has given up on fishing success. Yet, he still pushes back out when Jesus asks, and he still lets down the net when Jesus asks.
And God through Jesus brings the miracle!! What had once seemed hopeless and a lost cause now had a second chance through them.
“And when [the fishermen] had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So 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.” Luke 5:5-6 NKJV
WOW! Not only did Simon Peter get a catch, but his boat was filled to overflowing. There were so many fish, the usual net couldn’t hold all the bounty. Even the boats began to sink. As Pastor Mike Day says, “Our God is a net-breaking God!”
What is it that you have given up hope on, fellow believer? Where are God and Jesus calling you to cast your net out just one more time?
It’s never too late for a second chance with the Net-Breaker. Follow God’s leading, honor Him and His son, and see what bounty He brings!