Isn’t it amazing how you can read the Word of God over and over and glean something new every time!  Recently I was reading about the calling of the disciples in the book of Mark chapter 1.  Starting at verse 16 it says, “As He (Jesus) was passing along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother.  They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fisherman.  “Follow Me,” Jesus told them, “and I will make you fish for people!  Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.  Going a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.  They were in their boat mending their nets.  Immediately He called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him.”

Two words really caught my attention as I was reading this passage of scripture again; and those are the words casting and mending.  Simon and Andrew were casting their nets before Jesus met them and James and John were mending their nets.  I got to wondering why the Lord would include those minute details; why not just say they were in their boats or they were fishing?  The Holy Spirit then opened my eyes to what important words those really are.  You see my friend, before we come to Jesus we are all either casters or menders.

First, there are casters.  Those are people who are casting their nets into the seas of life, hoping to fill their empty hearts with what they catch.  Some are casting into the sea of relationships, others into the sea of addiction,  still others into the sea of fame, beauty, success or wealth.  Then there are those who cast their nets into religion or good works hoping that they will find their answers to the questions of life.  Those nets don’t always come up empty.  Many times people gain the man or the woman they were hoping for or climb the corporate ladder and get to the top.  People make their millions or enjoy the highs of their addiction but in the end- what do they really profit from their catch?  Mark 8:36 says, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?”  My friend, what the Lord is really saying is even if you throw out your nets and haul in the biggest catch of fish one can imagine, what would it matter if the weight of those fish you caught made your boat sink and you went down with it.  You may have caught the fish, but you lost your life.  

Next, there are the menders; those who feel they need to fix themselves before they come to Jesus.  They need to get out of the relationship they are in.  They need to give up their addiction, so that they can come to the Lord as a sober person.  They feel the need to go to church or feed the homeless so that they can score some points with God.  They scrub and scrub their nets, trying to make them presentable.  Often times, the nets come out looking fabulous.  In the eyes of men, you could not find a nicer looking net.  Things are different through the eyes of God, however.  Isaiah 64:6 says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”  You see, what the Lord requires is perfection- that is the measuring line.  Every single one of us falls short of that line and even our righteous acts are filthy when compared to the righteousness of God.  It would be like a person scrubbing a white suite and cleaning it to perfection and then putting it on a homeless man filled with soot and dirt and filth.  Whatever that man had on himself is now transferred on to the suit making it filthy as well.  The Lord is not wanting a clean suit my friends, the Lord is wanting a clean person, and only He can clean a soul.

After meeting Jesus, Andrew, Peter, James and John all had the exact same reaction.  Immediately they left their nets and they followed Him.  They stopped casting, they stopped mending and they started walking with the Savior.  Why?  Because they found in Jesus everything they were looking for.  

My friend, if you find yourself today casting out your net hoping that your next catch will be the one that brings fulfillment, or constantly trying to mend your net so that you can present yourself before God as a whole person- STOP!  Put down your net and run to the Savior just as you are.  Come broken, come used, come tattered or bruised.  Jesus will fill the desires of your heart and mend your broken soul.  Remember, the Lord never asked the disciples to fix themselves, only to follow.  If we do the following, He does the fixing.