*Mind Your Mending

“Mending their nets...he called them.” Peter and Andrew were “casting [their] net,” while their brethren, James and John, were “mending their nets.” The former were using their nets, while the latter were fixing theirs. Mending is as necessary as fishing, but we hear little, if anything, about the maintenance of mending.

Years ago, while learning to throw a cast net, my teacher, a deacon by the name of George Kendrick, told me, “Preacher, inspect your net often, and keep it mended, for if there is but one tiny hole in it, the fish will find it and escape.” We need to constantly check our lives and mend those areas where we are most vulnerable, lest we toil all night and catch nothing.

When we sit down to mend our nets, we are as occupied and busy as those who are casting theirs. The wise man tells us there is “...a time to sew (mend).” Notice Jesus calls the ones who are mending as well as those who are fishing.

It’s not a new net we need but a mending of our old one; God makes due with what we have.