The God Who Enters Into Our Lives

Introduction

The entry of one person into another person’s life is not a small thing. It can change the entire life. The person may be a friend, a colleague, a relative, a lover, a life-partner, or a stranger. One person can change our life for good or bad. It may lead to either joy and success or sadness and disaster. We ourselves willingly allow some persons to enter our lives. Others enter into our lives even if we don’t want them to enter. We may want some persons to enter our lives, but they may not. We may not want some persons to enter our lives but they may. What happens when Jesus enters into a person’s life? Today, I am going to talk to you from the Word of God on the theme “The Entry of Jesus into a Person’s Life”. What is the method of the entry of Jesus into a person’s life? What happens when Jesus enters into a person’s life? With what purpose does Jesus enter into a person’s life? What will be the result of the entry of Jesus into a person’s life? We will see the answers in Luke 5:1-11. It is the story of the entry of Jesus into the life of Peter.

1. The Method of Entry (vv. 1-4)

1.1. Entry into a person’s life is connected to a wider ministry setting (v. 1)

People were pressing upon Jesus to hear the Word of God. We are not separate from the rest. Jesus enters our lives as part of His wider ministry. Therefore we should not neglect the larger ministry happening in the world. Though Jesus may meet us in loneliness, it is only through the larger ministry happening around in the world. If we miss connections with the larger ministry going on around us we may miss Jesus. Therefore do not stay alone. Go to church fellowship. Go to meetings. Attend prayers. Jesus may enter your lives during those times.

1.2. Entry happens by a deliberate choice of Jesus (v. 2)

Jesus saw two boats. There may be many other boats on the shore. But the sight of Jesus fell on two boats only. Jesus did not choose the other boats. This shows that Jesus had made a choice of whose lives to enter in. We have to remember that Jesus has chosen us to enter into our lives out of all the other people around us. This is His grace upon us and we have to be grateful to Him for choosing us out of many to enter into our lives.

The fishermen were washing their nets. By the time Jesus saw the two boats the fishermen have come from work. But their work was a failure because they were not able to catch fish even after toiling whole night. We know this from the words of Peter in verse 5, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” Jesus enters into the life of the fishermen at this time. Jesus enters into the life of those people who work hard and get little or nothing. A daily-wage laborer, who works hard in the scorching heat of the sun from morning to evening without proper food gets only Rs. 100 per day. He became a daily-wage laborer because his father did not have money to send him to school. But a software engineer, who works for a multinational company in air-conditioned rooms from morning to evening, having best quality food, gets Rs. 1000 to Rs. 3000 per day. He became a software engineer because his father was able to send him to top institutions where he was able to get the best quality education. A Pastor or a God’s servant, who sacrificed his whole life for the service of the Lord, who works hard for the welfare of the Church, does not get even Rs. 50 per day. The rich look down upon the poor, even though the poor work as hard as or even more than the rich. This is the unjust situation of the world today. But there is good news for those who have not received the just reward for their hard work. Jesus wants to enter into the life of such people. It is a deliberate choice of Jesus to enter into the lives of those people who have failed in their lives. Today you may be thinking about your life and saying to yourself, “My life is a failure. I have worked hard but not able to achieve anything”. But know that this is the time for Jesus to enter into your life.

1.3. Entry starts with a personal fellowship (v. 3)

Jesus gets into the boat of Simon and asks him to put out a little from the land. By doing this Jesus is shifting the attention of Simon towards Himself, away from Simon’s failure. Until Jesus called him, Simon was thinking about his failure in catching fish. He was tired and dejected. But entering into the boat alone with Jesus helped to shift his concentration from that failure to Jesus. We need to get into the boat along with Jesus, away from the land of our own business, so that we can hear Him speak. When he was in the boat with Jesus, Simon got the opportunity to observe Jesus from near, seeing Him and hearing Him. This increased Simon’s respect for Jesus.