Preachers Fishing for Sinners
When you are in a foreign country, there are always language mistakes you are going to make. I made a fairly humorous one this year in San Jose, Costa Rica. Myself and a team of others are here as fishers of men. We are here to preach the Word of God to all who will listen. Jesus said in Luke 5:32 “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” We too preach repentance to those walking in the darkness of sin. In pursuit of these objectives there are joyful moments, sad moments, and as I will now share with you, humorous moments.
Pescadors!
In Spanish there is a word “pescador”. This word means “fisherman”. This certainly applies to our work in Costa Rica. There is also a word “precador”. This is the word for preacher. I attempted to be a pescador precador by talking about religion with our taxi driver during the ride from the airport to the hotel where we were staying. During the conversation I mentioned that I was a “pecador” as well as were my fellow brothers in Christ. Notice there is one letter different from the previous words mentioned. A pecador is a sinner. I had been telling our taxi driver that we were sinners. Great start to the work in Costa Rica! First day in Costa Rica and I became a pescador precador proclaiming to be a pecador!
Language is a funny thing. When we study the gospel we need to be careful to study the Word we share (2 Timothy 2:15). We must preach only that Word which has been established in heaven (Matthew 16:19, Galatians 1:8, Revelation 22:18-19). We must strive to do only that which Christ has provided in obedience to the Father (John 8:28, Colossians 3:17). If we do these things with love in our hearts for Christ (John 14:15), then we will avoid the pitfall of living a life as a pecador.