How to Catch a Man

Luke 5:10
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid, from now on you will catch men.”

So many women today are afraid that they will never be able to catch a man who is suitable for marriage. When you see a man or woman find a good match for a spouse, you will often hear them respond that he or she is a “good catch.” When people break up and lose someone significant friends will try to console them by saying, “There are plenty more fish in the sea.”

With the ratio of men to women being more men than women in the United States you would think that women would be more optimistic, huh? Yes, according to the US Census Bureau the global population totals 6,830,586,95. There are 3,440,026,130 men and 3,390,560,846 women. The sex ratio is 101.5. There are 49,465,293 more men than there are women. Then what’s the problem with women being afraid that they will not find a husband?

Maybe the question is, “Why are there so many single African American women that are afraid of remaining single?” Between the ages of 20 and 29, one black man in nine is behind bars. Michelle Alexander says that the prison system is the new Jim Crow. In her book she says that the “war on drugs” during the Reagan years put a disproportionate amount of black men behind bars through unjust laws targeting black men. Removing so many men from the marrying market has profound consequences. As incarceration rates exploded between 1970 and 2005, the proportion of U S born black women aged 30-44 who were married plunged from 62% to 33%. Because most seek husbands of the same race-96% of married black women are married to black men they are ultimately fishing in the same pool.

One woman wrote, “I thought I was a good catch,” sighs an attractive black female doctor at a hospital in Washington, D.C. Black men with good jobs know they are a “hot commodity,” she observes. When there are six women chasing one man, “It’s like what are you going to do extra to get his attention?”

The disciples had been fishing all night and hadn’t caught anything. They had given up and washed their nets.

1. Sometimes your breakthrough comes when you wash your nets. Sometimes when you stop looking is when you find something. We can expend all our natural energy fishing all night but it might be in the daytime when you are empty that God shows up.

2. Jesus got in the empty boat with Peter to teach. When your boat is empty of relationships, it’s a good time to listen to Jesus teach. It’s through personal spiritual development that God prepares you for a good catch.

3. Put out into deep water and let down your nets. Putting out might get you into deep water. Giving up your body prematurely in a relationship may get you in deep water that you can’t recover. Jesus told Peter to put his boat out into deep water and let down his net. Going out deeper symbolizes moving out of your cultural comfort zone in meeting people you would not have met staying in shallow waters of a myopic cultural outlook. Instead of fishing in the same small pond you might go deep sea fishing.

4. Be obedient to what Jesus tells you even though it defies your limited cultural understanding of how to fish. The disciples were professional fishermen. They knew how to fish! Jesus tells them to go fishing at an odd time and in an odd place. Can you let go of your paradigm for fishing to embrace what Jesus tells you to do? You might catch more than you ever could have using traditional modes of fishing. I’m just saying.

5. There are more fish not only for you but for your friends who can help you get out of your comfort zone. There is nothing wrong with loving your race but do not exclude the human race in your selection process.

Dear God,

Bless the single sisters who are praying for a good catch. Help them to be obedient in their approach to selecting a mate. Open the eyes of the right man so he can see that she is a good catch. Help us all to put out deeper and cast wide our nets. Teach us how to catch men.

In Jesus Name,
Amen