Daily Devotionals

Trouble Maker Week 5: Monday

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” Luke 5:10 

When Jesus began His ministry on earth, He needed to choose a group of disciples or people to follow and learn from Him throughout His ministry on earth. It is important to understand that being chosen as a disciple to follow any Jewish rabbi was a very big deal. The way that the system worked in Jesus’ day was that only the best of the best young Jewish men would be allowed to follow a rabbi based on their performance in school. The rest went home to learn a family trade. Now, when Jesus chose people to follow Him, one would expect Jesus to choose people from the group of young men who had made it all the way through school and were considered the “best of the best” students. Instead, Jesus chose men involved in their family business or on other career paths, signifying that they had not been considered the best of the best and had not been invited to follow a rabbi. Despite these differences, Jesus spoke into the stories of 12 men and changed their lives, leading them in a completely different direction.

We can read about Jesus calling some of His first disciples in Luke 5. This passage of Scripture tells us that Simon Peter, James, and John were all fishing when Jesus came over to them. He actually got into Simon Peter’s boat and started teaching crowds of people surrounding the boat. After teaching, Jesus told Simon to go out into the water and lower his net. Peter replied saying, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again” (verse 5). Peter’s response was out of obedience. He had seen no evidence of fish to catch, but He trusted Jesus and obeyed. When Peter and the other men with him obeyed and tried again to catch fish, they caught so many fish that their nets began to break (verse 6). These men were amazed at what had happened, and Jesus responded by saying, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” With this extraordinary invitation, Jesus was completely redirecting their lives. They planned to continue fishing in their family businesses, but Jesus had other plans. He changed their lives in the best way. 

 Jesus does the same thing for us. He offers us the same invitation: “Follow Me.” He has far greater plans for our lives than we could even dream, even when His plans might change the direction of our lives. The question is, will we listen to His call and follow?

Moving toward action

Jesus’ call to follow Him demands a response. So take some time right now to write a prayer to God. Tell Him that you want to follow Him, no matter the cost. Ask Him for the wisdom, boldness, and courage to follow well.

Going Deeper

Luke 5:1-7 (NLT)

"One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.