Instagram Jesus Week 5: Devotional Day 5
DAY 5 – Friday
Daily devotional
Read
Jeremiah 16:14-16
Ask
Jesus directly used the practical experience of these fishermen’s every day work to give them a vision for kingdom-minded work. How is Jesus transforming and using your professional experience to give you a vision for living for him in the midst of your workplace or in another context?
Where do you see Jesus making you into a “fisher of men”?
Reflect
Progressive Insurance has a creative add out for television. The scene opens with the Progressive Insurance spokesperson being led through the jungle by a panicked adventurer who cannot understand the language of the tribe he just ran into. Turns out, the tribe is an old-fashioned insurance company operating in the middle of a jungle who communicate solely in insurance-related terms. The Progressive Insurance spokesperson translates for your everyday adventurer and the day is saved (if you want to see the clip, look for “Fluent in Insurance” on YouTube).
When Jesus calls the disciples in Mark 1:17, he uses language they would be familiar with based on their line of work. We see Jesus do this several times throughout the Gospel. For example, in Mark 4:26-34 Jesus describes the kingdom of God using gardening language, which would be very familiar to all in that agricultural society. We even see this in the Old Testament such as in Jeremiah 16:14-16, where fishers and hunters are described as those who will bring the people of God back to a restored Israel.
One key thing to keep in mind is that while Jesus uses the familiar language to describe the work he intends for the disciples to do, he is not expecting them to know how to do it. Remember the key phrase in Mark 1:17, “I will make you become …”. Jesus is the one who transforms their work for his kingdom.
If Jesus were walking by your place of work or the place where you spend most of your day and called out for you to follow him in the same way he did for the disciples, what phrase might he use instead of “fishers of men”? In your LifeGroups, take time to share about how you see God at work in your different lines of work.