Daily Bible Reading 15th May 2026 // Luke 5:1-11
1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
There are two things that need to be distinguished in the matter of the disciples' calling. On the one hand, it seems clear that they were led on into ever-deepening levels of spiritual experience by our Lord. This is something that necessarily happens to all who go on with Him. On the other hand, however, we must beware of thinking that a call to service implies a deeper level of consecration than that involved in discipleship. There is only one level of consecration permitted for believers, and that is expressed in Romans 12:1, 2. Also, we must in this connection take care that we know what we mean by the phrase 'full-time service'. All service for Christ must be 'full-time'; there is no such thing as 'part-time' service in the kingdom of God, in this sense, that one cannot be a Christian for just part of the time, for this is a denial of the very nature of discipleship. The Christian in industry or in the professions is just as much in full-time service as the minister or missionary. What we often mean by 'full-time' service would be better called special or specific service. All are called to full-time discipleship, but not all are called to give up their secular employment in the fulfilment of it. Not all are called to preach, for example, for preaching is a specific and special activity that only some are called to and required for. But every disciple may nevertheless be a 'fisher of men', that is, they may learn to win others to Christ. The positive, definite, distinct work of introducing others to Christ is what the Church exists for; and it implies two things: first of all, the man who fulfils this vocation must himself know Christ as his Saviour and Redeemer. We cannot introduce anyone to a Jesus we do not know ourselves; secondly, the 'others' we seek to introduce to Him are really 'outside' until they are brought 'in'. They really need to be 'caught', and saved; and if they are not, they will be lost. This should make it clear that there is an eternal difference between being 'caught' and 'not caught' in the net of the gospel.