Rande Greene

“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19  And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

– Matthew 4:18-19

They owned boats and lived the toiling life of a fisherman. Jesus doesn’t sit down to dialogue with them. He doesn’t beg or plead with them. He says, “follow me”. It meant more than get in line behind me and go with me to my next location. What did they do? He called them to repentance and identity transformation. Matthew 4:20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. By his call upon their lives he created new people. He gave them a purpose. He gave them a future. He gave them a new identity.The forming of new men was the creation of a new identity. Repentance is the starting place of an identity change. It is the beginning of a new identity.Genuine repentance is so important and powerful that it the foundation for a new person with a new identity. Jesus acknowledged the fact that they were fishermen. That was the old life and identification for who they had been. He gave them a new identity. He took the old and gave them a new definition for who and what they were.