Thursday August 1, 2024

Matthew 13:47-53

Jesus said to the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds.

I would have loved to be there when he said this. I would have loved to see their facial expressions, their utter shock that he would liken the pristine Kingdom of God that was conjured up in their minds with a dragnet cast into the sea. Now Zambia does not have a sea, so I know nothing about throwing a net in a sea. But we have rivers and lakes and if memory serves me right, when you throw and drag a net you bring in some mud too. I remember going to the Kafue or Zambezi river and the smell sometimes would be enough to kill an ox.

Anyway, sometimes church is not pretty. Sometimes there are misunderstandings and areas of growth. The question is can we see that God is in control even when our lives drag in the ugly.

The beauty of Jesus’s God is this: God is right in the midst of it all. The good, bad and ugly of our lives. God is in it!!!! God is it!!!