Recently I saw a vision of a fish in a stream and knew that it represented those that will be coming into His Kingdom. It reminded me of the verse in Luke 5:10 where Jesus said to Simon:“Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” Simon was concerned that his sin made him unacceptable for this new assignment, so he repented in several previous verses. Jesus said do not fear because the catchers are acceptable just as they are. Obviously, many are still concerned about taking any assignment with the Lord because they feel unworthy and their shame stops them from serving.
I also find this unworthy awareness of people (fish) that will be caught and soon enter His kingdom. An explanation of how Christ by his grace and the cross has made it possible for all who desire that intimate covenant relationship to enter in may help. Then God through the Holy Spirit will transform them with a joint effort of love, cooperation, and participation together in the new covenant. As we are catching the fish, we must be aware that some do not want to enter because they know they will never be able to keep the biblical scriptures, so why try.
In today’s culture, others have already been born again, but they have heard the grace message and fully embraced it. They have embraced it so much they believe it is God’s job to transform them and they have no obligation to try to obey his word because they don’t want it to lead to any performance on their part. Therefore, they will just relax and allow God to do everything.
There are others that tend toward perfectionism and have a difficult time forgiving themselves, but at the same time find it easy to judge others because their lives do not look like what the Bible says it should look like.
It seems that part of the catcher’s job is to understand where the fish are in their viewpoint of grace, performance, unworthiness, fear, perfectionism, and transformation. It also seems the great commission, catching, and discipleship all tie together.
As the Harvest continues, let’s enter a relationship of understanding where that person is now, what they have been through, and help remove any obstacles to entering and enjoying his kingdom!
In His Covenant Love,
