Net Gain

In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 5, verses 1-11, we read about a divine intervention, where Peter and his partners, James and John, had fished in a spot all night but came up with empty nets.  But then, after teaching the gathered crowd, Jesus instructed Peter to let out his nets again. 

Peter, an experienced fisherman, was certain that there were no fish to be found, a certainty he expressed to Jesus saying, "we have fished here all night and have caught nothing," nonetheless, however doubtful he might have been, he was willing to obey, "yet, because you say so, I will let down the nets."

When he did, his nets caught so much fish, his boat nearly sank and he had to call for his partners to come help with the catch. They saw a net gain from zero to more than they could have imagined. 

What Peter learned that day was that the power of God multiplies the efforts of man to the point of bringing abundance out of nothing. Staying in the same spot, doing the same thing, but now out of obedience to God, gaining a great reward where only emptiness existed before. 

Peter learned that day that it was not the what we do but the whom for which we do it that matters. He learned the power and the blessing of serving God not man,  listening to the voice of the Lord not self, obeying heavenly direction even when it made no earthly sense. 

Peter, along with James and John, all of whom left their nets and their boats to follow Jesus, learned the net gain of discipleship was truly out of this world. Obeying God, no matter what our natural inclinations or the collective wisdom of thers might be, always results in gain. To the point that Paul would later proclaim, "To live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil 1:21).  Jus' Sayn.