One of the most dramatic moments of the gospels is when Jesus first called Peter in Luke 5. There are many important teachings in this account of 11 verses, and I’ll use the next entries to discuss just a few of them. The first verses I’ll discuss are Luke 5:1-3:
“So it was, as the multitude passed about Him to hear the word of God , that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake…Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.”
Easy to miss the lesson here, but it’s a significant one. Jesus came to Peter (called Simon at this time) knowing this man was capable of being one of His greatest disciples. He did not just come out and tell Peter this. He didn’t even give Peter a long lecture on the scriptures, and teach how they point to Him as the Messiah. He didn’t shout at Him through a megaphone, or threaten him with descriptions of hell. He instead did something much more productive. He asked for his help.
This is an amazing thing. Most of us who are saved are regularly thinking about how we can help others, but this is Jesus asking a simple fisherman to help Him. He wanted to preach from the boat, and needed Peter to keep it steady. Peter agreed to, and enabled Jesus to preach to multitudes.
When we want to reach others sometimes the best thing we can do is allow them to help us. A lot of those in need of saving are people with a diversity of skills, and they can help us. They can repair our cars, give us jobs, do our taxes, bag our groceries, take our trash, fix our roofs, build our websites, tutor our children, or do any number of other things. Allowing others to help us is a great way to let them know that we don’t arrogantly believe that only we can help them if we are saved, and they are not.
Do they need our help? Yes. All who are unsaved need to be saved. The best way for us to help them, however, may not be to cram that idea down their throats. The best way to help them could be to let them help us. That does a lot of good, and helps establish a relationship with them God may want us to have so that we can reach them. There are countless ways to reach someone, but no one can be reached if we don’t show respect for who they are.
Follow the example of Jesus. If you want to reach someone whose identity is largely wrapped up in what they can do then use that. Let them help you, and they may become more willing to let Jesus change them.
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