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Four Important Words

In Luke 5, Peter and his fishing partners, James and John, have just come in from a night of work. They are cleaning their nets and getting ready to go home after a very unsuccessful night on the water. At that moment, Jesus comes along, gets into Peter’s boat and begins to teach a crowd of people who have gathered on the shore.

When he is done, Jesus turns to Peter and says, “Put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch” (verse 4). Peter does not want to go. He reminds Jesus that it is the wrong time of day, that they have been up all night and that they had not caught anything. He is not interesting is trying again.

Peter then says something that changes everything: “But because you say so, I will let down the nets” (verse 5).

Peter overcomes his complaints, his circumstances, and his lack of success and decides to do what Christ asks him to whether it makes sense or not. The result is that they catch so many fish that they almost sink both boats. After seeing what Jesus could do, it says, “So they pulled their boats on shore, left everything and followed him” (verse 11).

The hardest part about faith is not the “learning” part but the “doing” part. All of us can come up with numerous reasons why we cannot do what we know we should be doing. Excuses are abundant, but obedience brings results.

“Because you say so…” are four important words.

What is God asking you to do? Are you willing to do it?

Who knows? Maybe God is just waiting for you to “go out into the deep water” so that he can “fill your boat”.

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