Little Tommy and his dad were going fishing. Dad got their equipment out of the car at the lake: fishing poles, a tackle box, and two lawn chairs.
“Dad,” Tommy asked, “why do we need the chairs? Won’t we catch fish faster than we can reel them in?”
“Probably not, Son,” Dad replied, “so I want to be prepared to wait.”
“Dad, why did you bring so many different kinds of bait, and which one do you use?”
“Well, Son, you need more than one to ensure you have something they like. If they don’t bite soon, we’ll try something else.”
“Dad, what are these crooked pliers for?”
“They’re for removing the hook if the fish swallows it.”
“What about the long, skinny knife?”
Dad patiently answered, “For cleaning the fish when we catch them.”
“What about this sharp, pointy stick with a circle on the other end of the string?” Tommy asked.
“That’s called a stringer. The stick goes through the fish’s gill and the circle, and then we’ll put it into the ground. With it, we can leave the fish in the water to keep them fresh without them getting away.”
Just as Tommy was about to ask another question, he saw the end of his fishing rod bend down. He yelled with excitement, “I got one, Dad, I got one.”
We must be prepared when we try to lead those who are lost to the Lord (Matthew 4:19). We may have to wait a while, so we must keep throwing out the bait. The bait is living our lives in ways that show God’s love so others will be drawn to Him. The stringer symbolizes keeping them close to us after they accept the Lord. The pole is how we get the gospel to them through Scripture, tracts, good deeds, or godly lives. Those are the things in our tackle box.
Last is the knife. Like cleaning fish, we must be careful to help them cut away the things in their lives that don’t glorify God.
You can’t clean fish before you catch them. If we catch them, God will clean them up. The same way He did us.
Andy is a published multi-award-winning author with devotions appearing on the Christian Devotions website as well as the CBN website. He is a contributing author in the Starr Ayers/Stephanie Pavlantos book Room at the Table. Currently, he is working on his first novel and is assembling a book of inspirational Scripture-based short stories along with moral, personal, family, and comical stories. Andy is the founder and director of H.O.P.E. Ministries in Candler, NC. While operating primarily as a food ministry, they also provide backpacks, Easter baskets, and Christmas shoebox gifts to crisis pregnancy centers, domestic violence shelters, schools, government agencies, and other ministries. They also provide disaster relief and aid for unwed mothers and their children.