Our reading today is an account of how Jesus called the first disciples.  As we meditate on this Scripture, experience God’s loves for you and respond to His call.

Jesus is interested in you! (Vs 1-4): No matter who you may be, Jesus loves you and wants to build a relationship with you. In His earthly ministry, Jesus reached out and ministered to all cadres of peoples – the Pharisees, officials, fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves and more. Even today, He is interested in each of us irrespective of our positions or failures.

• Your Salvation: God is interested in your salvation and eternal life. In his Infinite love for us, God the Father sent His beloved Son Jesus Christ to as our substitute who suffered and died for our sins, that whoever believes in Him may be reconciled to God and have eternal life. This is the agape love of God that He came to seek sinners and save them.

• Your Personal Life: Beyond your salvation, God is also interested in your life on earth. He cares about your needs and wants to guide and strengthen you in your struggles and trials. God wants to be involved in every aspect of our daily lives be it personal, secular or spiritual.

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Experience His power through obedience (Vs 5-7): Peter, an expert fisherman had toiled all night without any success. When Jesus asked him to launch out into the deep and cast his nets, although Peter’s experience told him otherwise, he willingly cast it, out of respect for the Master. His obedience to Jesus’ instruction enabled him to experience the mighty power of God! Similarly, when we obey God, we will experience Him in a personal way in our lives.

His presence brings consciousness of self (Vs 8): In the light of Jesus presence, Peter become conscious of his sinfulness. Isaiah, similarly felt his unworthiness in the presence of God’s holiness (Isaiah 6:5) Often times, we rationalize and justify our actions, but when we look into our lives in the light of God’s Holiness, we understand that we are helpless sinners, who can only be saved by the love and mercy of God.

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He calls us to be Disciples:  While Peter and the others washed their nets, they heard all that Jesus was teaching the multitude. Then Jesus followed the teachings with a practical application that enabled them to experience the truth of who He is. When we have a revelation of God’s love, our hearts should surrender to Him desiring to be discipled by the Master.

Surrendered lives have a divine calling: “Have no fear; from now on you will be catching men!” (Vs 10). Through the miraculous catch of fish, Jesus symbolically prophesied the multitudes that Peter and the other disciples were to lead to the Lord (Acts 2:41). When we surrender our lives to the Lord, there is a divine calling upon us who have experienced the grace and mercy of God, to teach and proclaim the Good News to the ends of the earth, leading many to Christ. (Matthew 28:18-20)

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Transformed lives: Today’s reading concludes that they left everything (including the great catch of fish they had just caught) and followed Him. Their lives were radically transformed by the love of the Master. Throughout the Book of Acts we see these mighty men of God proclaim the Gospel and serve the Lord, even at the cost of their lives.

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Have we come to the level of intimate relationship with the Lord, where we like Paul can say, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”? (Acts 20:24)

The Essence of Discipleship: “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross daily [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].”-Luke 9:23 [Amp]