Fishers Of Men

This doesn't mean that Paul could only say those words or that he wasn't very smart. In fact, it was because Paul was smart that he knew how to talk to just about anybody but his purpose for talking to them was to lead them to Jesus. He was always going to get around to, "Christ, and Him crucified."

For us, this might sound almost impossible. How can we become all things to all people? I'm not smart enough to be able to talk to everybody I meet. How do I get to be Paul's kind of smart? A young boy once approached his father to ask, "Dad, why does the wind blow?" to which the father responded, "I don't know, son." "Dad, where do the clouds come from?" "I'm not sure, son." "Dad, what makes a rainbow?" "No idea, son." "Dad, do you mind me asking you all these questions?" "Not at all, son. How else are you going to learn?"

If you want to be Paul's kind of smart, you can either ask your dad about such things...or you can ask the Father. Do you remember what Jesus' last words were to His disciples just before He ascended back to Heaven? He gave them the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) that said, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

"And surely I am with you" when you are talking to the educated man. "And surely I am with you" when you are talking to the uneducated man. "And surely I am with you" when you are talking to the Jehovah's Witness or to the Mormon or the atheist. Your job is mainly just to be willing. Your job is to love people enough that you are intentional about going to the grocery store or to the car wash or the football game so that you can strike up a conversation about whatever might lead you to lead them to Jesus.

I hate to tell you this but that might include learning some Veggie Tale songs so you can talk to some little ones about Jesus. It might include listening to some music that is too loud and too repetitive for your taste so that you can lead some youth to Jesus. Maybe you should go to the local football or baseball games even though you don't have kids playing so that you can talk sports to someone in the hopes of coming alongside them for the purpose of being who they need you to be so that soon they will listen to you preach Christ, and Him crucified.

For you to not try to be all things to all people is like trying to catch all different kinds of fish in all different kinds of weather and all different kinds of water with your grandpa's old cane pole and a nightcrawler. It'll still work every now and then and it may be the very best way to catch certain kinds of fish but you are missing out on a whole bunch of other fish that that combination is not even close to being effective on.