Follow Me, and I Will Make You Fishers of Men
“Follow Me, and I Will Make You Fishers of Men”
God is the One who calls to service. He may call people who are not thinking about this matter at all: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16).
The Lord passed by Peter and Andrew while they were busy fishing, and they had labored all night and caught nothing. While they were occupied with the affairs of the world and failing in them, He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Thus, the success of the service was not due to their zeal…
In the same way He passed by Matthew while he was absorbed in the tax office and said to him, “Follow Me.” And He passed by Saul of Tarsus while he was engaged in persecuting the Church and called him to service as a chosen vessel to guide the Gentiles…
The Lord knows the kind of souls fit for catching people, even if they are busy catching fish. He knows them where they are and calls them to His service…
“Follow Me, and I will make you…”
You cannot serve unless you walk behind Christ — behind Him in His manner and His way, in His calling, and in everything. You must have discipleship to Christ, having learned how to walk behind Him; then He will make you a fisher of men…
You cannot make yourself a fisher; He makes you.
Not your intelligence, nor your experience, nor another leadership, nor your effort, nor your skills — but Christ is the One who makes you a fisher of men…
You will toil all night and catch nothing, until the Lord comes and teaches you how to cast your net into the deep, and says to you: “Follow Me. Walk in My path and in My way, with My same method, and I will make you, I will choose you, I will send you My grace, and place My Spirit in you, and teach you to fish.”
He Who Wins Souls Is Wise:
The winner of souls has many qualities: active, intelligent, self-sacrificing. But among his most important qualities is that he be wise. Look at the Apostle Paul how he said: “To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews… to the Greeks as a Greek, that I might win Greeks… to those who are without law, as without law… I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:20–22).
Let the servant be wise, but with divine wisdom descending from above…
The wisdom of a person who has experienced the spiritual path and walked in it, who knows the nature of people, and knows the spiritual wars and the tricks of the devils. He knows how to say the word that suits each person, at the appropriate time…
There are servants who have led others in wrong ways and imposed on them spiritual practices above their level, so the path became difficult before them and they became complicated.
These servants became like the Pharisees who laid heavy burdens on people’s shoulders, hard to bear, and thought that difficulty meant high level. Neither did they enter themselves, nor did they allow those entering to enter.
They teach people ideals outside the scope of practical application…
And they themselves have not experienced them, but only knew them by hearing or reading. They say to people: whoever does not do this is not a servant; whoever does not do this is not a Christian… The hearers become doubtful and perhaps leave the service. They forget the saying of the Apostle Paul: “I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it” (1 Corinthians 3:2), and the saying of the apostolic fathers: “We should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19), and the saying of the Lord of glory: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12).
We do not burden people. But this does not mean that we are lax.
No, we do not relax any commandment of God. But we train them in it one by one. We lead them gradually until they arrive…
Also, if you want to be a fisher of men, do not bring them into your personal problems, and do not stamp people with your own personal character.
Do not try to lead them all into monasticism if you love monasticism. And do not push them toward marriage if that is your path. Do not speak to them about Church problems if you have a problem.
Every person you meet in service has his own psychology and his own level.
He has his own circumstances and his own nature. He may not be a copy of you. Leave him in his path. Guide him to the pure truth, not to the path that you believe in and choose for yourself. Perhaps you love solitude, and he loves service. The solitude that suits you may not suit him.
The wise fisher, among his prominent qualities, is patience…
He casts the net or the hook and waits. Perhaps he waits a long time, but he does not grow weary. So also the fisher of men. If you are impatient, wanting quick fruit in service, otherwise you leave it, then you are not a wise fisher. If you give advice and the listener does not act on it, do not be upset and do not grow weary of advising.
Service needs long-suffering toward sinners until they repent.
Be patient with the argumentative student in your class, and patient with the deviating youth, and patient with the one bound by a habit until he is freed from it…
The Lord Christ also likened Himself in service to the sower who went out to sow. And the sower also is very patient. He casts his seed and does not hasten its sprouting. Each plant has its own nature, and it will appear in the fullness of time…
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