Daily Devotion
Happy Among Crappie
By
Dan Betzer
Guest Columnist
CBN.com
-- Recently I had the privilege of spending some time on the
beautiful Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. It is a massive
body of water, created when the Osage River was
obstructed by Bagnell Dam. My wife and I honeymooned
there just 47 years ago this week.
The lake is filled with crappie -- maybe the best-tasting fish
God ever created. There are places where they might be
a bit bigger, but no place where they are more plentiful.
One local told me the other day that he had caught over
40 of them just that morning.
Many fishermen use live minnows as bait, while others jig
for them with doll flies. Ah, I have caught many crappie
from those blue-gray waters. I would love to fish for them
every day, but unfortunately, there aren't any of those
"specs" (as they are called) in my back yard! I have to go
where they are.
Jesus told us that He would make us "fishers of men."
Apparently, some believers and some churches think that
the fish are coming to us. They are not. We must go to
them. The church must infiltrate its community and the
world.
Remember Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan who
found the beaten man dying beside the road? Jesus said
that the Good Samaritan went to where the man was. We
are just not going to catch many fish for Jesus from our
pews. We have to go where they are.
How can we reach people we do not know? Whom we do
not understand? This requires effort on our part. I tell you,
though, a good day of fishing is well worth all of the effort
expended.
Jesus expects it from us.
Used with permission by author, Dan Betzer. Previously published on ByLine OnLine, copyright © 2005 Media Ministries of the Assemblies of God.
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