Beaches Full of Nets

“And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.” Luke 5:11

Why is it that people make a commitment to Christ but remain largely unchanged? It is because they leave nothing behind.

The modern version of Christianity is to accommodate the call of Jesus into an already established lifestyle. From attitudes to actions we expect Jesus to accommodate. Yet we fail to realize that truly following Christ requires a total reorientation to life.

We want to lose weight without changing our diet. We want to save money while we continue to amass debt. We want to save time for more important things without releasing the frivolous. We want to gain Christ and lose nothing.

We do not lose weight.
We do not save money.
We do no save time.
We are not Christians without loss.

If we cannot look behind us and see a beach full of empty boats and dry nets, then we cannot say we are following Christ. One reason we return so easily to our sin is that we carry our nets in backpacks instead of leaving them behind us. If you pack your net in a backpack, at some point, you will return to fishing. If you leave it behind, there is no chance. The beaches of our past should be full of empty boats and dry nets. Leave it behind.

Leave your net at the beach. Walk away. Follow Christ.