Fishing

"And He said to them, 'Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
-Matthew 4:19
      Last Saturday my church's college group decided to go "fishing" at my college. If you have gone to church for a long time, you probably know that I am not referring to the actual act of going fishing. "Fishing" is when a person goes out and shares the gospel with others. In the Bible when Jesus is calling His disciples, He says will make them fishers of men. The disciples were actual fishermen, and probably lived comfortable lives. The disciples saw Jesus approach them, and when He asked them to follow Him, they obeyed. The disciples probably had no idea what Jesus meant when He said they would be fishers of men, but they followed anyway. Why?
      Before I answer that question, I want to recount my experience going fishing. My church group decided to "fish" by handing out flyers that had a brief summary of our church and our contact information. This sounded like a very simple thing to do, but it turned out not to be. As we were driving the short drive to campus, I started to realize what we were really about to do. We were about to ask random people if they wanted to study the Bible in our church. You can't hand out flyers without explaining what is on it after all.
      A couple of my friends and I were approaching a couple of people, and it did not go well. Let's suffice to say that I really screwed it up and made it really awkward. After that, I managed to hand out one flyer by using a very simple and direct tactic. I would go up and simply ask the person if they wanted to study the Bible. This sounds extremely easy, but when I went out and actually had to do it, I started to have doubts. What if people reject me? Even worse, what if they remember me? It wasn't only me; I could see my friends also starting to realize how weird this could be.
      I did manage to hand out all my fliers (there were only 5) with the help of my friends. I wish I had more confidence, but now I know that fishing is easier said than done. Why is fishing so hard? I think that as you go out to "fish" and ask people if they are willing to study the Bible, you begin to have doubts. You start to think about what you are doing, and you become nervous and afraid. I wasn't necessarily ashamed of what I was doing, but I thought about how awkward fishing is. Fishing takes courage and complete faith in what you are doing.
      Furthermore, I believe fishing is hard because it is a spiritual battle. Think about it; Satan doesn't want others to know about Christ or to have an opportunity to study the Bible. He plants doubts and lies in your head to make you uneasy when you are fishing. Satan doesn't outright attack you, but he tries to make you stop spreading Christ with doubt and fear. How do we fight the battle? We have to do what the disciples did; follow Christ and trust Him. I believe a reason the disciples followed Jesus because they realized He was something different, a man with power. We too must follow Jesus and He will teach us to become "fishers of men".
-Smart