Cast Your Net by Carol DeBlasis

Photos: Writer, Carol DeBlasis and Grandpa, Charlie Decker with Carol's cousin, Linda)

Matthew 4:18-21 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

One of my favorite pastimes is watching an expert throw a cast net. My grandfather was quite an expert at this art, and could spread a net better than anyone I have ever seen! With the net gingerly draped over his hands and the line secured between his teeth, he would wade in the inlets and bays of South Florida looking for schools of fish.

When the net would leave his hands and spread wide over the water, I was convinced that it would capture every fish within its vicinity. And it usually did. But this expert ability didn’t come to my grandfather overnight; it took him a while to learn the fine art of properly casting a net. I am sure that he failed on numerous occasions to hit his target or to get the whole net to spread out all the way.

And so it is for us. Casting our Spiritual nets takes practice and determination. Sometimes we think they miss their targets, and sometimes we feel that they were not spread wide open enough to capture the hearts of the intended recipient. Yet Spiritual fishing is guided by God’s Holy Spirit, and once we step into His Living Water, every cast is effective and eternal. Besides, unlike grandpa, it doesn’t matter HOW we throw the net, what matters is that we throw it!

When grandpa would cast his splendid net and pull in its wiggling captives; he would diligently pick through each creature, keep the fish and throw back the things he was not fishing for. Some things were alive, squishy and ugly and I would encourage him to just leave them on the shore to die. But he was always faithful to throw everything back into the water that he was not interested in keeping.

He seemed intrigued by their unusualness and wanted them to live. Thankfully, God has decided to keep us all, no matter how unusual or weird we may be. When His net of love and grace captured us, He was delighted when He hauled us onshore and inspected His catch. He never considered throwing any of us back because we were squishy and ugly. Instead He was enthralled with each of us and called us His kids!

Praise Him for amazing grace!

It seemed to me, at the time, that grandpa always strolled along the most remote sections of shoreline that he could find. He never gathered with other cast net fisherman, but preferred the isolated inlets. There in the glowing moonlight, he would swirl his net high above the still waters and always pull in a hearty abundance of fish. Maybe that’s what we need to do beloved. Perhaps we need to leave the comfort of the Church and go to the isolated places and try casting our nets of grace. There are so many lost souls who are hungry from God’s Good News!

We must not let the enemy convince us that our nets are not strong enough or our faith is not big enough to advance upon the darkness! At the office, in the grocery store and even within our own families, The Spirit will assist us in launching our nets high above mankind and pulling in a soul or two for the glory of God! It’s really great fun: God gets all the credit and we get the grand pleasure of discipling a wiggly, squishy, excited new Christian!

Your Personal Relationship With God by Carol DeBlasis

Philippians 3:7-11 "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." (NIV - New International Version)

Have you ever thought about how privileged we are to be acquainted with the Son of God? I mean, think about it: we did nothing to deserve this divine relationship, yet, just because we believed - Jesus Christ came to live in our hearts.

Considering all He did to allow us this right, it seems like a small price to pay for His presence! For us as believers, no other relationship, or material possession in our lives can compare to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord!

The amazing young man that delivered folks from demons, raised the dead, healed the sick and preached the Kingdom of God is our Brother! What an amazing blessing! So what’s holding us back from diving headfirst into this miraculous kinship?

Perhaps it is the busyness of life, the desire to make a fortune, a feeling of unworthiness, or that no one has ever taught us that we were allowed to be intimate with our Lord. But whatever the reason, we must be like Paul and cast every excuse aside and press into this divine romance! Over and over again He has invited us to take His yoke, taste His goodness and receive His Light. He’s willing, are we?

We should be so willing, in fact, that we are ready to count everything a loss compared to gaining Christ and to be found in Him! Our relationship to Him needs to be prioritized over our possessions and our relationship with husbands, wives, children, parents, siblings, friends and even Pastors!

Because when we give Him first place, all of our other relationships fall under the same grace, love and acceptance that we experience with Jesus! We become better stewards, spouses, parents, grandparents, employees and church members.

And when you think about it, He is the only One who will be left when money, husbands, wives, children, parents, siblings, friends and Pastors are no longer around! So why not spend the majority of our lives investing in Jesus, since He will be the only One waiting for us at the end of this long, long road?

With arms held open wide, He is the only true friend we will ever have. He knows the most disgusting secrets of our lives and loves us anyway. He is always available and immediately on the scene when we call on His Name. What other “pitiful issue” in our lives can take precedence over our relationship with this gracious Lord?

We should want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. Our desire should be to become like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Worldly possessions and distractions should be cast aside in our pursuit of Christ’s power, love and humility! Oh to flow in the earth as He did: laying hands on the sick, loving the unlovable and sorrowing over the lost.

May we too glorify the Father at every opportunity and shine bright as the siblings of Christ!

We should be more than willing to do whatever it takes to know Him more and to be used to advance His Kingdom. After all, isn’t that what we promised when we originally invited Him to be the Lord of our lives? Didn’t we say “use me for Your glory”? Well, He’s here now to take you up on your offer. All He requires is to be the delight of your life and the very reason for your existence. Which is little to ask, considering that is exactly how He feels about you!