Dropping the Nets

Matthew 4:18-20

Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." They didn't ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.

In 1904 William Borden, heir to the Borden Dairy Estate, graduated from a Chicago high school a millionaire. His parents gave him a trip around the world. Traveling through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe gave Borden a burden for the world's hurting people. Writing home, he said, "I'm going to give my life to prepare for the mission field." When he made this decision, he wrote in the back of his Bible two words: "No Reserves." Turning down high-paying job offers after graduating from Yale University, he entered two more words in his Bible: "No Retreats." Completing studies at Princeton Seminary, Borden sailed for China to work with Muslims, stopping first at Egypt for some preparation. While there he was stricken with cerebral meningitis and died within a month. A waste, you say! Not in God's plan. In his Bible underneath the words "No Reserves" and "No Retreats," he had written the words "No Regrets."
Have you ever thought about what it means in Matthew chapter four when it says, they didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed? The reality is that in doing this, they laid down everything familiar to them. It means they abandoned their “regular work”. They walked away from their comfort zones and their stability to follow Christ, and they didn’t even ask where they were going. They didn’t reason with Jesus or tell him that they had to gets their affairs in order first, but they quickly dropped everything and followed Him.
I believe it would be safe to say that these men followed without reservation and without retreat, as the verse says, “they didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed”. The lives they each lived from this day forward, as well as, each of their deaths, all give the clear conclusion that they also had no regrets! It ultimately cost them everything as they followed Christ through death’s door, but I know if they could testify from Heaven today, they would echo the challenging words of William Borden, “No reserves, no reservations, and no regret!”
Are there nets of comfort, familiarity, or stability that you need to drop? Are you wrestling with God on something you have clearly heard Him tell you to do? Is He calling you to follow Him down a new and unfamiliar path and you are negotiating with the questions of “where are you leading me” or “what will it end up costing me”? Why not choose today to have “no reserves, no retreats, and no regrets”?

Lord, show me today the nets in my life that I am not letting go of. Show me where I am holding back and where I am retreating from your will. Enable me to follow you, without trying to negotiate, knowing that it will be worth it all when I see you!



To read more from Tammy, you can visit her at Steps in Our Journey