It is not every day that a fisherman brings home the BIG one. In fact, if my own experience means anything, it is rare that the big one is EVER brought home. I call myself a fisherman, because I fish: not because I catch fish, but rather put forth the effort to catch fish. It is not inconsistent that I say "I am a fisherman" as long as the understanding is: my goal is to catch fish and not just fish for fish. (is this sounding fishy?)At any rate, I say "I am a Christian" and many times I act like I am not. Either in my words, or my deeds, and secretly, in my thoughts I reveal that I am not all that I say that I am.
If there is anything I want to be "consistent" about, it is my faith. Not just my inward faith, but the walking out of my faith. What I am called to do, to be, to embody as a believer is more than meets the eye. Jesus said something to his disciples that should make us consider:
Mar 1:17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
It is not until we follow after Him that we will be made fishers of men. The times I find myself most inconsistent, is when I am following hard after ME. When my flesh is being satisfied, I am being most inconsistent with the faith I say I embrace.
A call to repentance is before me as I examine my own following of the Lord that saved me. Am I inconsistent in the consistency I am called to? Or am I consistently being inconsistent? If the latter is the case, I must ask am I truly following after Christ?
Let the life of a believer be such that no one doubts that he is consistent in his faith, even though from time to time he may appear to be inconsistent. Let him fall, but let him get up seven times. Just because he loads the boat, and spends hours on the lake, and returns with no fish today, is no reason to say he is no fisherman.
But let not his life be one of consistently failing to load the boat and head to the lake. If this is the case, his constant failing to do the work of a fisherman reveals, "He is no fisherman at all."
Lord, make us fishers of men, as we follow hard after you.
