8/16: "Fish and Chips."

In Gods eyes we are all ordinary people with an extraordinary calling. In God’s eyes money, fame and fortune do not distinguish us from other people. What matters to Him is our desire to be all we can be in Jesus Christ. The Lord sees us as a “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation , a people belonging to God..” (I Peter 2:9). You and I may not always feel like that. We get bogged down with the cares, distractions, and stress of modern life which can be overwhelming at times; indeed, we can be so fixated on our troubles or preoccupied with mundane matters that we forget God’s calling on our lives and that he cares for us because we matter to him. We know this because Jesus shed his blood for us. We are bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ (I Peter 18,19). Peter understood this better than most because having denied his Lord three times, he considered himself a drop out who had lost his credentials as an apostle. He was resigned to being an ordinary fisherman on the Sea of Galilee until the resurrected Jesus reminded him that he had places to go, people to catch and “lambs” to nourish. (See John 15:21-25).

I would never demean the fishing industry or the restaurant business but we are not talking here about “fish and chips” but about a holy calling that makes earning a living incidental to our real profession which is to be agents of reconciliation and ambassadors for Christ ( II Corinthians 5:17-21). It is because of this that we should not allow ourselves to “just go fishing.” But to be God’s special people and to do his work requires a special anointing. With that special anointing we become equipped to be heavy hitters for the Kingdom of Heaven. That anointing is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is our own special Pentecost. And it was promised to us through the prophet Joel (2:28-30), who in turn was quoted by Peter on that momentous Day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2. Peter the owner of the first “Fish and Chips franchise now turned evangelist and Spirit-filled apostle proclaimed that we all can be filled with this same Holy Spirit and that the promise is for anyone who dares to become more than a spectator in the saga of redemption. So are you going fishing in the local pond or do you have much bigger fish to fry?