“They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.”

We all have our nets.  Nets can be considered both good things and bad things.  Nets are good in that like fishermen know, they are the tools of a trade to be mastered and thus turned into a profession.  But, we also have our nets that can tangle us and cause us to stumble.  Businesses don’t always realize the strength of their nets and will overload what they can do and then find themselves staring at an empty hole wondering how they lost market share, customers, or deals.  We would be well served to 1) know what our nets are (strengths), 2) test our nets for how much we can hold and maintain, 3) know who knows how to handle the nets well and know who gets tangled…and deal accordingly with each.

Jesus told His disciples to follow him and those who were fishermen, dropped their nets and followed Him. A few weeks ago at the church we attend here in Rhode Island during the summer the congregation had an open discussion on what it means to lay down your nets. For some, the nets represented our skills, or safety and security in the knowledge of the nets being a tool for food and employment.  For others the nets represented the tangles of life that if we drop them and give them over to Jesus they don’t any longer get in the way of being able to follow Him fully.  It’s a great question to ask of ourselves; which nets are we holding onto that we aren’t dropping?

Reference: Matthew 4:20 (New Living Translation)