I can’t
think of one more word that will help you understand where I am going from that
title so this devotion will be the explanation of how belongings belong. I’ve never had the occasion to think of my
belongings in quite the same way as after my husband went to heaven and left
all of our belongings to me. One of my
great privileges for the twenty-seven years of our marriage was having a
husband who took care of most of our belongings. I had belongings with all the benefits and
none of the burdens. All that
dramatically changed in an instant. The
same belongings that had brought me comfort the day before became a
burden. A year ago I could not cope with
buying dog food, getting my dog to the veterinarian, getting my car serviced
and having repairmen in my house alone!
I called my parents, who came for a week to catch up with everything
that was crashing down on me. In the
year that has passed I have done a better job of caring for my belongings, but
it seems a never ending task.
This week
God had a message for me about belongings as I read the calling of the
disciples in Luke 5:1-11. I tried to
imagine the scene that took place. Jesus
came to the Sea of Galilee right to the place that Peter, Andrew, James and
John launched their fishing boats. After
a long night of fishing, fishermen cleaned their nets. It was a necessary but grueling task. It had to be done whether the fishing adventure
had been successful or not. That is what
you find the future world-changers doing in this story. They are taking the necessary care of their
belongings the best they knew how. Jesus
would change their entire focus on their belongings.
There were
most likely other boats at that place, but Jesus chose the boat that belonged
to Peter and asked to use it to talk to the people. Peter’s boat with the holy passenger was
pushed out into the water a bit so that the crowd could see and hear what He
had to say. When Peter consented for
Jesus to use his boat in this way, he was unknowingly learning more about his belongings
and how they were meant to belong. While
others were busy taking care of belongings—fishing nets, Jesus was sanctifying
Peter’s belonging—his fishing boat.
Peter never dreamed what belonged to him could be used in this way. Only Jesus can show us how to use our
belongings for His glory and His purposes.
Peter’s
relationship to his belongings changed that day too. Before Jesus sat in his boat, he saw his boat
and fishing nets as his safety and security.
After Jesus sanctified his boat, he saw how his belongings belonged to
the earthly world and could keep him tethered if he was not willing to let them
go.
When Jesus
finished speaking, He gave a personal invitation to Peter. He asked Peter to dirty the just-cleaned fishing
nets. All of Peter’s experience and
training told him that was a stupid thing to do. Fishing is better at night, not the morning; and
it was very unlikely that they could catch even one fish as they had been
unsuccessful that night. Peter
surrendered his belongings even more in a way that made no sense to him because
it was Jesus who asked this of him, and that was the only reason.
When the
catch of fish yielded so great a load that his boat and the other boat were
about to sink, Peter stopped thinking of his belongings at all. Imagine a businessman having his most
successful day of business. Rather than
figuring how to get Jesus to become his fishing partner, the man thinks nothing
of his belongings and only of Jesus.
After realizing how holy Jesus is, Peter can’t stand to be in His
presence. Jesus told Peter about his new
mission—catching men. Not only Peter,
but Andrew, James and John left their belongings and followed Jesus.
How do your
belongings belong? Does Jesus have
something He’s trying to show you about your belongings?
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