{"id":3919,"date":"2016-01-05T23:29:57","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T23:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/?p=3919"},"modified":"2016-01-05T23:29:57","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T23:29:57","slug":"catching-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/catching-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Catching People"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

February 4, 2007<\/h5>\n

Luke 5:1-11<\/h3>\n

Two experienced fishermen decided one day to go ice fishing. They walked out on the frozen lake, cut a hole in the ice, put worms on their hooks, and lowered their lines into the water. After about three hours they had caught nothing. Then a young boy walked by with some fishing gear. He cut a hole in the ice, put a worm on his hook, lowered the line into the water, and immediately pulled out a fish. He repeated this process over and over until a pile of fish lay on the ice. The two fishermen were amazed. One of them walked over to the boy and said, \u201cYoung man, we have been sitting here for three hours and have caught nothing, and yet you in a few minutes have caught a dozen fish. What is your secret?\u201d The boy looked up and mumbled something that the man could not hear. The man noticed that there was bulge in the boy\u2019s cheek. So he said to him, \u201cYoung man, if you don\u2019t mind, would you spit out that bubble gum so that you could speak clearly and I could understand you.\u201d The young man cupped his hands and spit it out. Then he said, \u201cIt\u2019s not bubble gum. It\u2019s my secret. You need to keep the worms warm.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we see someone doing something that we cannot do, we presume there is a secret. We presume that they know something we do not know, that they have a talent we do not have. Now this might be true about fishing, but it\u2019s not true about being a disciple of Jesus. For we believe that when Christ calls us, he equips us at the same time. The call and the ability to accomplish the call are given together.<\/p>\n

This is the experience we find throughout the scriptures. In today\u2019s first reading, Isaiah is called to be a prophet. He immediately knows that he is inadequate. He is not properly equipped. He is a sinful man. He wants the Lord to find someone else. But the Lord does not find someone else. Instead, the Lord sends an angel to touch his lips, to forgive his sin, to equip him to be a prophet. When Peter is called in today\u2019s gospel, he immediately sees that he lacks what is necessary. He is inadequate to the task. He tells Jesus, \u201cDepart from me, Lord, I am a sinful man.\u201d Find someone else. Jesus does not find someone else. Instead he says to Peter, \u201cDo not be afraid, from now on you will be catching people.\u201d Jesus equips Peter for what his calling will be. Both the call and the ability to accomplish the call are given together.<\/p>\n

Now this is a very important truth because we are called in the same way that Peter was called. We were given faith not just for our benefit but for the benefit of others. There is no such thing as private faith\u2014faith just for me. To the extent that we believe, we believe not only for ourselves but to share what we believe with others. We, like Peter, are called to catch people.\u00a0Now this may cause some of us to be worried. We say, \u201cI don\u2019t know how to share my faith.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m not good with words.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t like talking about religion or what I believe.\u201d Fine and good, all of us have different gifts. But if we believe, we are called to share that belief. The God who we experience in our own life is not to be just kept within us. Our faith in God is to be shared with others.<\/p>\n

How we share it can vary. Sharing our faith does not mean imposing our faith on others. It does not require that we stand on a soapbox on Public Square or that we stop people in the supermarket and ask them whether they have accepted Jesus as their personal savior. That is one way to do it. But you can share your faith by using less words and more example. You can share your faith by waiting for the right circumstances.<\/p>\n

Here is where it is important to remember that the call and the ability to accomplish the call are both given together. If you have been called to be a parent or a grandparent, you can be sure that God has equipped you to share your faith with your children. Do not imagine that it is the responsibility of someone who works professionally in the church. Your call involves sharing what you believe, and God has equipped you to accomplish it. You can find your own way to tell your children, \u201cThis is what I believe\u201d. \u201cThis is how I pray.\u201d \u201cI know God loves you.\u201d Whenever we find ourselves dealing with a friend or someone at work who is in need or struggling grief or loss, whenever we find ourselves called to reconcile with someone who has hurt us, that call is an invitation to share what we believe. We should not be reluctant to include our faith in our approach to others. We can say to the person in need, \u201cI believe that God is with you as you deal with this loss or this problem. I will pray for you, because I know God loves you.\u201d We can say to the person with whom we seek reconciliation, \u201cI come and ask for forgiveness not only because I believe it is right, but because I follow the teaching of Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

We who have been called to believe are called to share that belief. The call and the ability to accomplish the call come together. There are no secrets, no things that some have and others do not. So the next time you find yourself with someone and you realize that that person\u2019s life could have more meaning and comfort if they knew of a God who loved them and cared for them. Don\u2019t stand there and wait for God to send someone to proclaim that love. Don\u2019t stand there and wait for someone to share that good news. God has already sent someone. That someone is you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We who have been called to believe are called to share that belief. The call and the ability to accomplish the call come together. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5879,"featured_media":3920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/files\/2016\/01\/net-fisherman.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3919"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}