Fishing Opportunities

Today's NT reading is Acts 26. Now Paul gets to speak before Agrippa and Festus, or better, he gets to give a reason for the hope that is within him (an apologia-defense--remember Acts 22:1?) And, just like Acts 22, Paul retells his testimony: His life before he met Christ, the day he met Christ, and his life since he met Christ. Paul never let an opportunity slip by. He seized any and every opportunity to share Christ. Which reminds me, when he finally reaches Rome (he sails there tomorrow in the next chapter, 27), he'll sit down and write Ephesians. And in that letter he would write, "See that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Eph.5:15-16. "redeeming the time" literally means 'to buy up every opportunity'. You see, in all of Paul's epistles, he wrote from experience. Any way, back to our story. Paul proclaims the gospel to them and then pleads with them to be saved. "Then Agrippa said to Paul, 'You almost persuade me to become a Christian.'" (v.28). That's probably one of the saddest verses in the Bible. Agrippa was so close, but yet so far. He made no decision for Christ. And no decision is a decision. It's a decision against Christ. What do you have to do to be lost? Absolutely nothing. Jesus said, "He who believes (makes a decision for Christ) is not condemned; but he who does not believe (makes no decision) is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:18. To become a Christian might have cost the king some sneers, but to not become a Christian cost him his soul.

One more lesson for you and me. Paul was a soul winner. Was Paul successful here? Yes he was. Because, we don't win them. God does the winning-the saving. We do the telling and leave the results to Him. God is the one who saves when people surrender their lives to Him. Our responsibility is to simply tell them. To be biblically correct, we're not to be soul winners; we're to be gospel tellers. Jesus called us to be fishers of men. Now I like to fish. But I know some folks that LOVE to fish. You see, when I go fishing, if they don't start biting soon, then I'm ready to go home. But a true fisherman, who LOVES to fish, will sit in that boat all day, even if he catches nothing. What we need in the Body of Christ are some folks that'll just fall in love with fishing. In other words, just fall in love with telling others about Jesus, and let Him do the catching. When you tell someone about Jesus, and they do nothing--that's not failure on your part. That is success. You have done all that God ever required you to do-tell them the good news. Now it's their responsibility as to what they do with it. So today and everyday don't pass up those opportunities. And remember, fall in love with fishing. A true fisherman never misses an opportunity to fish.