Conquering the Time Factor

Have you noticed that today people are eating more on the go than ever before? No time for breakfast? There are smoothies and muffins for that. No time to pack a lunch? You can grab a Campbell's Soup at Hand for that. I regularly find myself grabbing something quick to snack on while I drive to work or run my errands. When I do eat, I scarf it down--not giving much thought to what I'm eating. I eat because I know I need to. At times, my feeding from the Word of God does not look much different. On those days, I inhale my chapter for the day, giving little thought to what I'm reading because in the back of my mind I'm thinking "Oh Lord I have so much to do today!" While I desired to linger in His word, in no hurry to do anything else, I simply couldn't justify such a luxury with my packed schedule awaiting my attention. Then the Lord pointed me to Luke 5:1-11.


As you may recall, Jesus is standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (aka. The Sea of Galilee) when people start crowding all around Him wanting to hear Him teach. Nearby, commercial fishermen Peter and Andrew, are cleaning their nets in the water after having had worked hard all night long trying to catch fish, but to no avail. No doubt feelings of frustration and distress consumed them as they as they cleaned their nets and considered how they were ever going to recover from such a huge setback. After all, their fishing wasn’t a mere hobby. It was how they made a living. As they mulled over their dilemma, Jesus approaches them and asks to borrow Peter’s fishing boat to teach from. Any other day, loaning his boat to Jesus wouldn’t seem like such a sacrifice, but today it would be. Peter wasn’t simply loaning his boat to Jesus. He was loaning himself and his time to Jesus since He has asked Peter to bring his boat out into the water and pull out a little from shore.

Though Peter and Andrew graciously accommodated Jesus, I wonder if in the back of their mind, Peter and Andrew lamented, “Here we haven’t caught anything all night, and now Jesus wants to borrow our boat to teach from. Only God knows how long it will be till we get our boat back and can get back to fishing. We are already so behind.” Regardless, Peter and Andrew obeyed, esteeming time to serve and learn from Jesus greater than meeting their most immediate need. Jesus knew Peter needed his boat to fish and that His borrowing it probably set Peter and Andrew back in their work-- especially since they had nothing to show for their grueling all-nighter the night before. So after He had finished teaching, Jesus directs Peter, “Put out in deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4) Not sure what will come of it, Peter decides to do it anyway because Jesus said so. (Always a good enough reason for doing anything) To Peter and Andrew’s great surprise, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break forcing them to call over their other fishing co-workers James and John to help, who were in another boat nearby. As it turns out, both boats were so full with fish that they started sinking! Despite this, with the Lord’s help they were able to make it safely to shore.
Look at how frustrating Peter and Andrew’s day, or night that is, was when it wasn’t spent with the Lord. Likewise, notice and how incredibly blessed and successful their day was when they did spend time with the Lord. Though they spent a good portion of the day with Jesus, their time with Him didn’t hold them back one bit from accomplishing the pressing task set before them. Instead, what would have taken days to accomplish was made possible in a matter of minutes! Is there anything today distracting you from spending quality time with Jesus? Be encouraged, Jesus will always make the time you spend with Him always worth your while.



Copyright © 2007 Brooke Espinoza.