My Net

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.”
            -Matthew 4:18-20

So today, I’m talking about what my whole blog is titled, but this passage and this whole idea of dropping nets have been on my heart a great deal since July. These men immediately dropped their nets when Christ called them. Those nets were how they made their living, their entire way of life. And they just left them. Dropped them, and never looked back. They had to drop them in order to follow Christ. In order to truly be His disciple, they had to be dedicated to Him and Him only. They could not have anything holding them back.

Like Peter and Andrew, we all have nets. We all have something that we hide behind or get caught up in, that holds us back, like a net, from fully surrendering our lives to Christ. Nets look different for everyone. They take on many forms. However, they all have one thing in common. They stand between us and a life sold out to our Savior.

My personal net these past few months comes in the form of a person. I can’t share any details, other than I am about to be separated from this person for a very long time. And in my entire life, I’ve never been more than two or three weeks without seeing them. So, needless to say, I’ve been struggling. Yesterday, in fact, I was having a really rough time. As it draws nearer, it becomes more of a reality, and yesterday, it really sunk in. And I just knew I was not ready. There was no way it could be coming this quickly. Time just needed to slow down.

Then I realized how completely selfish I was being. I was reminded of this passage and the lesson I learned from it this past summer. I am allowing this friendship to become a net in my life. I am holding on so tight to something that does not belong to me in the first place. My friend is not mine. My friend and my friend’s life belong to Christ. He has simply allowed me the privilege of knowing them. He has allowed me the years of growing together with them, and He has blessed me with a very special friendship, one like many people never experience. God has knit our hearts together in such a special way that this friendship is one we will share forever, regardless of where He takes both of us.

Now, it’s time for me to let go and be thankful for the time that we have shared. I need to let go for my walk with Christ and my friend’s. We both need to be free of nets so we can be free to fully serve Him in the places that He has placed both of us. Now, I’m not saying I’m perfect or that it’s going to be easy. It is going to have to be a daily thing, sometimes probably much more often than that, but I am letting go of this net!