What does a fisher do? He fishes for fish by casting a net or baiting a hook. The fisher does not expect his caught fish to extract itself out of the water. He will draw in his net or reel in his hook in order to bring the fish out of the water. Once the fish is caught in the net or on the hook, the fisher doesn't try make it stay in the water, he brings it out of the water. He harvests the fish. "And [Jesus] saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Mt. 4:19)

When the salvation message has been presented and a soul has been convicted of sin, why is it so difficult for some of us to help them reach a decision for Christ right then and there? We almost sabotage the harvesting. Are we afraid they will say no and reject the Gospel or us? It seems that we don't want to ask them to raise their hand, we don't want to inconvenience the lost person and ask them to leave their seat and go forward in a service, we certainly don't want to "force or coerce" them to make a decision for Christ. Even in personal soul winning, why do some soul winners do a great job of presenting the Gospel only to leave the fish in the water? They present the truth and leave it there. It is like going out to the garden to find beautiful red ripe tomatoes and not picking from the vine. It is like catching a bunch of fishes and leaving them in the water.

EXAMPLE: A Christian is teaching a group of attentive youngsters who are listening to the Bible truth about salvation. The truth is told. A prayer is prayed. The end. Kids are dismissed to go play. What is that? Planting a seed, watering? How much more time would it take to allow them to make a decision? Why not make the time for the decision? Why not ask the children if they have ever accepted Jesus as their Savior to raise their hand? Why not mentally note the ones who did not raise their hand, then ask if anyone who didn't raise their hand the first time to raise their hand if they would like to ask Jesus into their heart to be their Savior? After that, why not take those who have raised their hands to another room and lead them to Christ? Why make them ask a teacher later about it during play time? Come on, play time? What kid is going to remember to seek out a teacher during PLAY time? Why not make it easy for them and lead them to Christ then and there while they are focused on the message and their hearts are tender? Today is the accepted day of salvation. "For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2Cor. 6:2) Please, let's try harder to pull the fish out of the water...

Perhaps, some would say, the fish can be extracted from the water another day by another fisher. What if there is no other day? Why not redeem the time and use the day that we are fishing? What's the point of fishing if we don't harvest? Wouldn't it be nice to bring home a net or bucket full? What is the main purpose of the Church, anyway? Isn't it to catch and grow fish? What purpose did Jesus focus on? This may not be the best analogy, but it is something I have been thinking about today.

NOTE: I wrote the above yesterday morning, then we went fishing. Caught one. Pulled it out of the water. It was about 4-5 feet long. A blessed day! A day of salvation! Praise the Lord! "WORTHY IS THE LAMB WHO WAS SLAIN TO RECEIVE POWER AND RICHES AND WISDOM AND STRENGTH AND HONOR AND GLORY AND BLESSING FOREVER! AMEN!" -CB