When I was five I was very good at games. I could always win at checkers, Chinese marbles and Old Maids. It didn’t matter what game it was I always won. My father tried hard to beat me. He could stay right behind me but he never was able to catch me. I was number one. I’m not sure how old I was when I finally caught on.
Isn’t it strange how naïve and immature we can be? One afternoon I was walking in the forest with a colleague and he asked me how many people I had won for Jesus. I truly had no idea and when I told him I didn’t know he was shocked. He had a record of his. They were trophies to hang on his wall. He told me he had fifteen hundred and was shooting for two thousand before he retired. He told me he was anxious to go to heaven because there for eternity he would wear a crown with two thousand stars. I found myself wondering how old he would have to be before he caught on.
While it is true Jesus calls us to be fishers of men, it is also true He is the one who fills the nets. The disciples had fished all night and had caught nothing. In the morning by the shore Jesus told them to put out the nets one more time. Instantly they filled with so many fish the boats were on the verge of sinking. Luke 5. Whenever we get to thinking we are really something stupendous, it is good to remember being a child and always beating our fathers at marbles.
Written by Roger Bothwell on February 16, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org