"Feeling a Little Exposed"

"Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin." (Psalms 89:40)
Now that you know where this is going, I thought it might be good to really clear the air, by saying, This is surely not a bad thing! It might be a complaint, and it may even be a little true, but there are things in our lives that we hide behind which give a persona of another us; someone that we truly are not, yet the person we want everyone to love and admire. It might be your job, or position; it could even be what you are as a person, be it a wife or a husband. I am not saying that what you are or what you want to be is anything wrong, but it's really not what God sees you as; nor is it really what you are feeling inside. Okay, this might not be flowing in the right direction, so let me stop betting around the bush and get to my point. I heard a message yesterday that was like a punch in the gut; and it made me think of what it was like for me when I was first born again. The message was given by Pastor Richard, and it had to do with "Fishing and Following." The basic point of the message was that if you are following Christ, then you are a Fisher of men; if you are not a Fisher of men, then you are not following Christ. That's pretty much a quote, so you can't blame me for saying it; but I really do believe that it's true. I do not consider myself a fisherman on any level. Personally, I can't stand fishing; it's boring and a waste of time in my opinion. My wife on the other hand, she could fish for hours and hours; just the smile on her face would tell you that she loved it and was never bored by it, even when she wasn't catching anything. That's the part I never really understood; how can enjoy anything that isn't bringing forth fruit? Yes, that's the picture I was looking for; what we hide behind is just a mask that makes us too busy for the ministry, or too busy to get involved in being a Fisher of men! Sometimes when we hide our light under a barrel, God needs to break that barrel down; it might be little by little, and it might be in one big swoop; but one way or another He will expose the light in you. It might even be from something that is ugly and earthshaking, if that's what it takes. But what we need, more than anything else is to Fish For Jesus! Whether that be deep sea fishing, or trolling in the river; whether it produces fruit or not; it really does not matter, because it's what we all have been called to do. Oh, you're not feeling called to Fish For Jesus? Not even if it just means that you wait for that float to bob and you set the hook? No, I'm sorry; but if you are really a follower of Jesus, He is going to make you a Fisher of Men, one way or another...
"Now I will sing for the one I love and song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter. Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard. What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes? Now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will tear down the hedges and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it. I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it. The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven's Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence." (Isaiah 5:1-7) NLT