Jesus said, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” (Mark 1:17 NRSV) I always assumed He was talking about evangelism, but today I have a different perspective. My mind flashes to a story about a boy who gave up his lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish to feed the multitude--which is found in Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9 & John 6.
If you recall the story, Jesus told His disciples to organize the people into groups, asked for the boy’s lunch and then had the disciples distribute food to everyone. Food kept coming until everyone was full and there were twelve baskets of leftovers.
The lesson from this event is that Jesus will transform our resources into provisions when we allow Him to work through us as we offer what we have to meet the needs of those around us.
I believe when Jesus offered to make Peter and Andrew into "fishers of people", He was talking about a transformation that would cause them to provide for people’s needs over their own.
They used to catch fish for a living for themselves. Now, Jesus was saying, “Instead of only serving yourself, you will meet the needs of others with the resources I provide."
And so it is with me...
If following Christ results in becoming a fisher of men, then it should not merely lead me to tell others the gospel, but it should also cause me to invest my life and resources in meeting the needs of the hungry and hurting around me.
