Somethings Fishy

I've been in John 21 lately. Most are familiar with it. It's the time after Christ's resurrection that the diciples had fished all night to no avail. From the shore Jesus told them to cast their nets on the other side and they had more fish than they could haul in. John recognizes this as Jesus and Peter swims ahead of the rest. This is the passage where Jesus asks Peter three times about his love for Him.

The interesting thing for me was that when everyone got to shore and saw the food that Jesus already had prepared, Jesus asked them to bring some of the fish they had just caught. How odd.
When I thought about it, there were several things I noticed. First of all, they were fishermen. This is what God had made them for (or so they believed until Jesus walked into their lives). Second, the fish that day were a direct gift from God. God didn't need those fish (there were already some on the fire), but He not only allowed them to bring their fish (or gifts), but He encouraged them to.

Kind of like our gifts, huh? Even fish can be used by God. Whatever gift God has given us, He expects us to share it with Him, even though we all know He doesn't need it. I won't argue that we need to encourage people to figure out what their gifts might be, but not everyone is going to be equal in the same gift area. Sometimes we only want the best of everything out there for our church. We have the nerve to be picky about what people give us. We are only told to give Him our individual best. The poor widow with her mite gave everything. It wasn't much in the grand scheme of things, but it was everything in her world. For the disciples, it was the fish. I pray God gives me the grace to be a little more accepting of smelly fish, and to realize that those fish may be more valuable than anything I have to give Him.

How Big IS My God?

At my church it's the time of year when we look at our past year's goals, set new ones, etc. Reflecting on that, I realized that I don't pray like I believe God can do absolutely anything, even though those are the words from my mouth. My initial reaction to not reaching one of the goals was disappointment. And the goal for next year was set lower than this year.

I have to wonder if we aren't limiting God. If we felt He led us to setting that goal, only we hinder Him from delivering. Our "year" isn't over yet, and if He's as great as I say He is, why do I doubt He'll do what we ask?

As we got closer to that goal this week, with the remainder of the month ahead of us, my prayer is the same as the man with sick child in Mark 9:24 - Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!