Re:Verse passage – Colossians 4:2-6 (day three)
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt.”
It’s not uncommon for one to think of Jesus’s “fishers of men” phrase in terms of the dangling of bait and the hauling in of the prized catch. But one might also understandably recoil at the thought of baiting, or—to update the angling metaphor—“reeling in” a person. It seems more plausible that, rather than to the nabbing of unsuspecting prey, Jesus was referring to the traits of his disciples’ profession: patience, an understanding of habits and movements and times and seasons, a tolerance for unfruitful days, a respect for habitat, a willingness to learn from mentors, a comprehension of what threatens the work. Jesus leveraged these qualities to ensure that evangelism treasured people as people. Paul’s words teach us to do no less.
I love these positive traits of fishermen, Bryan! My maternal grandmother’s father and uncles fished commercially in the North Sea—not for the faint of heart! But utterly dependent on the Lord and very faith-building.