“And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishermen. 17. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
I want you to think about the possibility of Jesus using you to be a part of carrying out His purposes in the coming year. It is possible that you feel that you didn’t do a very good job of that in 2019. I guess that’s about par for the course for a lot of us, because it is difficult to determine when we have adequately served the Lord. If you are like a lot of people, and I mean A LOT OF THEM, you question whether God can use you at all. This is where Peter and Andrew come in, as well as James and John who were called to be used by the Savior right after Peter and Andrew. These men prove to us that Jesus can and will use us. The four men that Jesus called that day were not out of the ordinary. In fact, they were very ordinary – they were fishermen. There was nothing wrong with that profession. It was just not one that qualified people in the eyes of people that day to do anything remarkable. That should be an encouragement to us, for most of us are ordinary. (I remember that Abraham Lincoln said: “God must really love common people, because He made so many of us.”) Take Billy Graham for example. He was just a raw bone North Carolina farm boy. Who would have thought when they saw him at school, church and at work, that God would use Billy Graham to be the evangelist to the world? (No one was more incredulous than Billy Graham himself.) I am not putting myself in the league with Billy Graham, but who would have thought that God would use me to touch people’s lives with the gospel? My cousin Johnny and I were nicknamed “worry warts” at the Smithville Baptist Church. God started calling me when I was about twelve years old to preach His word, but I had a lot foolishness to overcome before I finally surrendered at age 21. If Jesus could use Peter, Andrew, James, John, Billy Graham and me, He can use you as well for whatever purpose(s) He has for your life. Notice that Jesus called them to be “fishers of men.” What Jesus meant by that was that they were to tell others about Him. While He called them from their fishing boats to follow Him and evangelize the world, that is not what He demands of everyone. There have been millions of people who have become “fishers of men” and stayed at whatever location or task that they were doing before. It is important that we realize that Jesus is using people who work at ordinary jobs to reach other people for Him. First of all, Jesus wants us to live lives before people that will reflect Him. Second, He wants us to give a verbal witness to people that we encounter when He leads us to do so. He wants to use us right where we are, doing what we do every day to reach people for Him. As you start this New Year, resolve that you are going to make yourself available to the Lord to be used of Him in whatever way He wants to use you. He wants to use you at your church, but He also wants to use you in the community where you live. I don’t know what He wants to use you to do, but there are plenty of opportunities to be used of Him as you encounter people daily. He wants to use you in the mundane things of life. For example, when you encounter a cashier and he or she makes a mistake, He wants to use you to show them how Christians are supposed to act. He wants to use you at work around the people with whom you work every day. People should be able to tell by your actions that Jesus is making a difference in your life. Of course there are also things that He can use you for at your church, just be available to Him to use you as He sees fit. Just remember this – God can use you!!!!! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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