Man Overboard
By Grant Gaines
Bobby Fischer is widely regarded as the greatest chess player of all time. At the age of 13, Fischer won what we know today as “The Game of the Century” thus beginning his brilliant career as a champion chess player. Throughout his career, Fischer won an unprecedented number of world championships and spent 54 straight months as the World Chess Federation’s number one player in the world.
What made Bobby Fischer such a great chess player was that he not only controlled his own chess pieces, but through his brilliant strategies he was able to control his opponent’s as well. By thinking several steps ahead, Bobby would essentially force his opponent into the exact situation that led to their own demise.
But why did his opponents keep on falling for Fischer’s trap? Because they didn’t know it was a trap. In fact, any curious bystander would often believe that it was Fischer, and not his opponent, who was in danger of losing until finally Bobby’s elaborate strategy fell into place.
The problem with Fischer’s opponents was that when they felt their safest, they were actually in the exact spot where their adversary, Bobby Fischer, wanted him. The same could be said about us—it’s often when we feel our safest that we’re actually in the exact place that Satan, our adversary, wants us.
You see, following Jesus is not easy and it often requires us to step out of our comfort zone. Satan knows this and will do everything in his power to frighten you back into Contrary to popular belief, Satan doesn’t care if you’re comfortable or not as long as that “safe haven”. you’re not doing God’s will, he’s happy.
But here’s the good news, Jesus also knows that we like to run back to our comfort zones when we’re frightened and will do everything He can to help us get out of our shells, just as He did with Peter.
Peter is known for a lot of things—his great teaching, his bold statements, and his supreme leadership. At the first glance, Peter seems to be some sort of “super Christian” that we can only dream about developing into someday. But if you take a deeper look at Peter’s track record, you’ll notice that—just like us—Peter had the bad tendency of running back to his comfort zone when times got tough.
And what was Peter’s comfort zone? Fishing. Not only did Peter love fishing, apparently he was also pretty good at the trade. In fact, many scholars believed that Peter owned one of the leading fish business on the Sea of Galilee before Jesus changed his vocation from a fishermen to a “fisher of men” (Matthew 4:19). So it’s no wonder that after Peter faced some major turbulence after the death of Jesus that Peter returned immediately to his fishing boat.
And it’s here where John 21 picks up with Peter and the disciples in the fishing boat when the Resurrected Redeemer shows up on the scene.
“[Jesus] called out to [the disciples], ’Friends, haven’t you any fish?’ ‘No,’ they answered. He said, ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.’ When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish” (John 21:5-6, NIV).
It’s important to understand that up until this point in the story the disciples did not recognize that it was Jesus who was calling them. But Jesus couldn’t hide His identity any longer after the miraculous catch as John’s eyes were opened to realize just exactly Who it was that was calling them from the beach.
This is where the story gets interesting because as soon as John recognized Jesus, we read in John 21:7 (NIV) that John, “…said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’” Now, why did John specifically and exclusively alert Peter of Jesus’ whereabouts? Why didn’t he tell Bartholomew, Thomas, or even his own brother James that Jesus was on the beach?
I would reason that it is because it was Peter, and not anyone else, who Jesus specially wanted to get out of the boat—his comfort zone. It was Peter and not Simon, Andrew, or Philip that Jesus called out of the boat and onto the stormy waters in Matthew 14. It was Peter’s boat and not Judas, James, or John’s boat that Jesus climbed into in Luke 5 when He first called Peter to be His disciple. Nearly every time we read of Peter being in a boat throughout the Gospels, we shortly thereafter read of Jesus calling him out of the boat to come follow Him.
Peter’s comfort zone that he constantly ran back to when serving Christ got tough was his fishing boat. What’s your boat? What’s your comfort zone that you run back to when times get tough? What’s your shell that you hide in when times get uncomfortable?
For a lot of people their jobs can double as “boats” or those excuses for not serving Christ. For others their “boat” is money, or a lack thereof, as the reason they offer for not going on mission trips. And for some, they state that they simply do not know enough to share the Gospel with others.
Whatever your “boat” is, Satan wants you in it and will continue to throw logs on that fire of doubt in order to draw you away from God’s work and back into your comfort zone. He’ll tell you that you can’t risk your job, your money, or your reputation to intentionally serve Christ.
But Jesus on the other hand, will tell you that the true risk lies not in your service of Christ, but rather in your refusal to serve Christ. You see, when Jesus called Peter out of the boat in John 21, Peter had a choice to make. He could either stay with his buddies and reel in the huge catch of fish, or he could abandon it all and run—or in this case, swim—to Christ. He had the choice to stay with the provisions or abide with the Provider.
Fortunately for Peter, he chose the latter as he, “…put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore” (John 21:7, NLT). And as soon as Peter arrived on shore, there was Jesus, cooking a nice breakfast of the very thing he thought he had left behind to come to Jesus—fish.
We too have a similar choice to make—we can stay in our “boats” with the provisions or we can run to the Provider. And just like Peter’s story, we too will realize that when we take the risk to step out of our boats to follow Christ, we will gain much more than we ever lost. It’s simply the truth of Psalms 37:4 (ESV) which says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
God is calling, will you step out of your boat?
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
