No, I’m not talking about the Internet.

I’m referring to the net that Jesus told his disciples to cast on the right side (John 21).  The net they had to bring into shore.

Think about it for a moment.

They were professional fisherman taught by their fathers, and their father’s fathers for generations.  They knew how to fish.  Why would casting the net on the right side of the boat suddenly change everything?  To human sense it would make no sense.  Were there no fishes on the left side of the boat but only on the right?!  Was there a line right down the middle?!

Yet even though they were not sure that it was Jesus who had instructed them, they recognized the voice of the Christ.  They yielded to the command.  They cast off their material knowledge—the material modes of thought, the evidence of the material senses.

And the result?

The net was completely full!

But they didn’t stop there.  No, the Bible states that they had to drag it to shore—no matter how difficult that may have been.  And when they got there, the Master—who already had fishes on the coals—asked them about their catch.

Now, why would he do that?  To see if they understood what had happened, that’s why!

“OK, so what has this to do with me?” you may be asking.

Simply this.  It’s not enough to say that we’re going to cast our net on the right side—that of Truth, of God—we have to first abandon the false knowledge and methods of material sense, just as the disciples did, be obedient to the Christ, and then bring our catch—our healings—to shore.

To what end?

To use the spiritual understanding that we’ve gained from our own healings, insights, and revelations in order to heal the sick and reform the sinner—that’s to what end!  And without doing that—without sharing the truth that heals “all the ills that the flesh is heir to,” without using the power that Christian Science reveals and bestows upon us: without proving our catch—aren’t we then just keeping all of the fish to feed ourselves?  Aren’t we then just being selfish?

And if that’s the case—and it is!—how can we possibly go forth and feed His sheep?!

Mary Baker Eddy declared:

The Principle of Christian Science is divine. Its rule is, that man shall utilize the divine power. (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 69)

The choice is yours.  What will you do with all of those fishes that you’ve hauled in?