Today, I went fishing on the Colombia River for chinook salmon with three other staff from JBC. We all caught a salmon, which is the limit now, and they were all nice fish. We had a great time, and I enjoyed eating fresh salmon tonight. We went with a guide, and the cool thing about going with a guide is that they know what they are doing. They fish for a living, or more accurately, take others fishing and help them catch fish. If they didn’t catch fish, they would soon be out of business and working a regular job like most others. So, they have learned the skill of catching fish well, and they have learned the skill of helping others catch fish. We had a good guide today. I have gone with him many times in the last 20 years and always catch fish with him.

That is what I have done most of my life. I have been a fisher of men, as Jesus put it. I have been working at influencing people to trust Jesus as their savior and teaching and encouraging others to do the same. My life activity is based on my belief that heaven and hell are very real places where very real people will live for eternity. People are transferred from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of Jesus because they have heard and accepted the gospel’s truth. That happens because someone influenced them, a fisher of people. Good fishermen know how to catch fish; they know the secrets and the basics of fishing; they are skilled and can teach that skill to others. Good fishers of people have learned to communicate the truth in a way that others can understand and draw them to Christ. They have also learned how to help other followers of Christ to do the same.

Most Christians do very little fishing for people. There are a lot of reasons why, but the fact remains that most Christians do little to attract people to eternal life with Jesus in heaven.