October 17, 2022 — The Career Move

“Have you ever changed your career?” Stan ask me one morning while we waited for breakfast.

“You mean like changing what I did to make a living?” I asked.

“That’s it,” he said. “You ever done that?”

“Not really,” I replied. “I’m pretty much doing the same thing I’ve always done. I like it and I don’t see much reason to change. Why do you ask?”

“I was reading in the Bible earlier this morning about how Jesus moved some people to change their careers, and I was thinking about how He did the same thing with me.”

“What was that all about?” I asked.

“Peter and his brother Andrew were professional fishermen,” Stan said. “That’s what they did to make a living. Jesus came along and told them that if they followed Him, He was going to change their careers to be fishers of men.”

“Yeah,” I said, “I remember that story. It says that they immediately changed their careers. Did that happen with you?”

“The ‘change’ part happened,” Stan replied, “but the ‘immediately’ part didn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“I eventually changed,” Stan replied, “but it took me a long time to get to the point where my focus was on what God wanted for me to be and to do for Him and His kingdom, not what I wanted to be and to do apart from Him.”

“You have any idea why it took you so long?” I asked.

“Same old story,” he replied, “self and self-focus in wanting to do what I wanted to do. I didn’t take seriously the discipleship part of being a Christian. I knew I was saved for eternal purposes, but I had not surrendered and did not get myself out of God’s way so He could make me a ‘fisher of men’, whatever that might look like.”

“Whatever that might look like?” I replied. “Don’t they all look the same?”

“They may all look the same,” Stan said, “in the sense they are to look like Jesus, and they may all have the same end-result of bringing people into the kingdom, but there are a lot of different ways of doing that.”

“You mean like there are a lot of different paths for getting to the ‘career’ of being a disciple,” I said. “Is that it?”

“That’s it,” Stan replied, “And it begins the same way for everyone who wants Jesus to make them into something they have never been, doing something they have never done.”

“Is it denying self, taking up what He has for us to take up, and following Him however, wherever, and whenever?”

“That’s what it seems to me,” Stan replied. “That’s the kind of a career move God has in mind for each one of us when we come to faith!”

_______________________________

Bible verses to consider:

And as He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And they immediately left the nets and followed Him. Mark 1:16-17.

And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him. Matthew 4:18-20.

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” Luke 9:23-24.

Prayer: Thank you, Father, for your provision of Jesus and His cross so I can follow Him. I confess that too often I do not follow Him in being a “fisher of men” in that I do not seek to reach others with the truth of all the provision you have for them on both sides of eternity.  Please help me in truly following every step of your lead so I am, in fact, a disciple who is a “fisher of men” whatever that may look like. Help me to be who you intend only doing what you want me to do for you and for your kingdom. Thank you that I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Think on this: Have you “changed careers” in the eternal sense that you know you will spend eternity in God’s presence when it’s time? If no, why? What’s in the way of accepting His free and gracious provision? If you are a Christian, how are you doing with being a “fisher of men”? What are you doing to reach others for God and His kingdom so they will have the assurance of salvation and redemption and will change their “careers” to be “fishers of men”? If you sense the need for change in how you view this, how is that change going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?