The auto parts store I worked at when I was in high school had all kinds of sayings posted all over the wall behind the counter. Looking back, one of my favorites was, “Teenagers, leave home now while you still know everything!” Granted I didn’t think this was all that great then, but now that I have one teenager and one soon to be teenager; I think its brilliant.
One thing that I do a lot of now that I never would have done before is to ask older or more experienced people for advice and direction. I used to (I hope I’ve stopped now) be so arrogant that I would tell people that were veterans in their field how they could do it better. If only I would have shut my mouth more, I can just only imagine how much more I would have learned.
It seems I’m much more open to suggestions from others now but I still fight against it sometimes. One of the people I seem to fight against is God. So often I get so convinced that I can do things better my way. In John 21:3 the disciples, like many of us, when things aren’t going right, we do what we’re used to. Jesus had just been crucified and the disciples went back to their professions as fishermen. I do the same thing, I get involved in ministry and things don’t go as planned and I want to drop it. They fished all night and nothing. That has to be pretty discouraging for a group up well-seasoned fishermen to be completely skunked all night. Then in verses 5 & 6 Jesus pays the disciples a visit and asks, “how are they biting?” It’s bad enough they haven’t caught anything now He tell them “just throw your net on the other side.” I’m not sure I would have taken that as well as they did. There was no, “ I no what I’m doing leave me alone”, no they just did it. Because of their faith, their nets were bursting with fish.
Why am I so slow to listen to the One who knows-it-all? He has given us an entire instruction book to read. For years it just collected dust on my shelf. Now I read it almost daily but I still don’t always follow the instruction. Are you in the same boat as me? Sorry for the pun. Do you react the same way I do many times when I read or I feel God’s prompting, “No thanks God I’ll do it my way!” I pray someday I have the attitude and faith of those fishermen had that night and just shut up and do it!
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Man Up Men! Live Christlike!
Walter
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