Trusting what you know can limit you …

Often the single biggest obstacle to receiving the rich blessings God has for us is ourselves.

The New Testament has many examples of the disciples making this error. But in John 21, we have a different example from the men who walked with Jesus.

Peter, who by trade was a professional fisherman, stated he was going fishing. The other disciples who were there decided to join him. Although they fished all night, they didn’t catch anything. Let’s pick up the story from there …

“At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. He called out, ‘Fellows, have you caught any fish?’ ‘No,’ they replied. Then he said, ‘Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!’ So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it,” John 21:4-6.

When we’re confident of what we know, and especially when we actually are the “expert,” we often are not very open to listening to unsolicited advice from someone else, especially if they aren’t an expert. Some of these disciples had fished professionally for most of their lives. It would have been easy for them to ignore the suggestion from an unidentified man standing on the beach. But they moved past their egos enough to listen to someone else, and the result was a catch so great they couldn’t haul it all in!

Knowing what you know might actually make you an expert, but it doesn’t make you omniscient — you don’t know everything! Knowing that will help you be open to the advice of others, especially the voice of an omnipotent God. When you can routinely get past yourself, you will be able to haul in the blessings God has for you.

Are you open to counsel from others? Or do you limit your life to an over-confident reliance on what you know?

Scotty