To Encourage You

John 21:9-11 “When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’  So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them.”

Do you think Jesus really needs us to do His work?  Do you think we give money in the offering plate at church because Jesus would be helpless to get any work done on the earth without our money?  Do you think that unless people laid down their lives as missionaries that Jesus would be unable to reach the world with the gospel?  When we think like this, if we do, perhaps we are forgetting that Jesus has existed from all eternity.  His life didn’t begin when He was born in the manger. He always was.  And wonder of wonders, somehow He managed without us – and managed perfectly, before any of us were born. 

You see, serving Christ with our time, possessions, talents, etc., is not so much an obligation, which is the way we may be tempted to view it, as it is a wonderful and magnificent privilege.  We should view service to Christ not as something we have to do, but something that wonder of wonders we get to do.  The passage above from John 21 gives us some insight into this very fact. 

In this account, the disciples had fished all night and caught nothing. Then, at Jesus’ command, they cast their net over the right side of the boat and immediately their net was full.  At last, they had something to eat, for they weren’t fishing for fun – catch and release if you will – they were fishing to put food on the table and money in their pockets.  However, when they got the net to shore they saw Jesus and He already had food on the table; fish and bread.  So where did He get it?  Well, it was already His, as well as everything else in the whole earth (Psalm 24:1).  He made all the fish to begin with, so no big deal to make a few more!  But one of the very interesting aspects about this account is that Jesus invites the disciples to bring Him some of the fish they had caught.  Jesus was about the work of making breakfast, but here He invites them to bring some of what they possessed to join in the work.  Of course, their own fish were nothing more than gifts from Him, but nevertheless He invites them to join Him with the use of those gifts.  It was a privilege and a joy to obey Him in this invitation. 

And so it should be for us in whatever God has asked us to do. No matter what He asks us to do, the ability to do it is totally a gift from Him. He doesn’t need to use us or our possessions (if we can even call them that) but He has chosen to do so.  In reaching the world with the gospel, He has ordained that each of us that has believed and been given the gift of salvation join Him in reaching others who have yet to accept that gift.  In so doing, when others do believe, we receive the privilege of legitimately, albeit graciously, sharing in that joy. The joy in heaven over one sinner that repents is shared with those on earth that God has given the privilege to join in His awesome work to save the world.   And the joy of sharing the love of Christ with others becomes not just Christ’s joy, but ours as well. 

Praise our great God Who has given us the privilege of joining Him in His work!  Praise Him that we get to do this.  And may God help us to never see our work for His kingdom in any other way.