Well, after a very lengthy absence - four months to be precise! - I have again gained access to my Google accounts - including this one. I confess to not even having been aware that this was a Google site and, when I lost access to my gmail account, thought that I could, at the very least, keep up with posts here. How wrong can one be?! I have actually been able to access since Dec.15th, but "inherited" more than 3,400 emails that awaited my attention and, of course, as quickly as I deleted those that were out of date, others were coming in!
So, here I am, on Ne'erday (New Year's Day for those unfamiliar with the Scottish expression!), with the first of what I trust will continue to be my weekly posts for 2022.
In Luke 5:4, we read these words of the Lord Jesus to Simon Peter: "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." A carpenter telling a fisherman where to catch fish! The background to the advice is that Peter, and his friends had been fishing all night, and caught nothing (v.5). Indeed, when Jesus had arrived at the spot on the shore of the lake of Gennesaret, they were washing their nets, and it was Peter's boat that Jesus had used as a "pulpit" to teach the crowd of people who were wanting to hear the Word of God. Peter, however, responded: "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." The result was miraculous! "And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, " (vs.6-7).
Why did these fishermen have to go out to the deeper water? Because when you want what you don't have - in this case, fish! - you've got to risk going where you haven't yet been! Some may have heard of, or even read, the book by John Ortberg - "If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat". This also involves dear Simon Peter and, again, he has to be obedient, even if all of his previous experience tells him that what he is about to do is a waste of time!
This is, of course, for many businesses a time to take stock. In such businesses, the directors wish to find out how their business has fared – has it progressed; has it done better than it did last year; can they report an increase in profits to the shareholders?
I suggest that it is a good time for
us, too, to take stock spiritually. We
should ask ourselves if there has been any improvement, any progress, in our
spiritual lives; if we are walking any closer to the Lord now than we were a
year ago? That, of course, has to do with our sanctification. And
sanctification may be simply defined as “becoming more like Jesus – day by day”,
something that happens only by the working of God the Holy Spirit within us.
If a business is failing, or if there
has not been satisfactory progress, then new policies, or a new manager, will
be required. If there has been no progress in your spiritual life, or in mine,
then the same solution will apply.
For the true disciple of Jesus, the
new policies will often centre around our attitude to, and out time spent in,
prayer and Bible Study. It is even possible that there are some who would refer
to themselves as “Christians” for whom the need is greater submission to the true
‘Manager’ – the Lord Jesus. For the unbeliever, I would claim that that is the only solution.
A new year! What will it bring? That is something that I am unable to say - indeed, that no-one is able to say with absolute certainty! However, as I quoted at the end of our annual newsletter, sent out just before Christmas, “I don't know what the future may hold, but I know Who holds the future.” (Ralph Abernethy, Martin Luther King's chief aide and closest associate.). For those who are disciples of the Lord Jesus, the Christ, that is our great strength and encouragement.
I wish each and all, a happy, healthy, and hope-filled year.
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