Right Side or Left Side.. Which to choose? Authority!

Pro-life, pro-choice, union, non-union, more tax dollars, less tax dollars. The more choices we have the less appealing those choices seem to become. It is as if human beings have this uncontrollable urge to generalize and label.

I have seen it with my own children, as toddlers they go about stacking blocks from biggest to smallest, lightest to darkest and if there is more than one color, all the blues end up together and the reds with the reds and the whites with the whites. Nothing tends to blend, unless we are talking about playdough which always turns out blah-color.

Jesus consistently had to battle with his disciples on their propensity to label and generalize. Asking "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? " Matt. 17:17 Parable after parable Jesus had to attempt to redefine his disciples ways of thinking.

He went on, "No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don't put your wine in cracked bottles." MATTHEW 9:16-17 (Message)

In other words, if you want to gain great kind of success and do anything new in this world you must begin by new ways of thinking.

So what do we do in a world filled with generalizers and label-centric individuals? Simple, we choose the correct side. Surprisingly not ultra-conservatism, or ultra-liberalism.

Jesus spoke about the correct side. In John 21 there is a very interesting occurrence. The disciples friend Jesus the Messiah, was dead and gone and all of the disciples were saddened. They were at a loss and did not know how to handle themselves. They were searching for a new label, a new generalization- if you will. (Who are we now? Without Jesus, in person?)

 ¹ After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: ² Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, thesons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. ³ Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”

They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. ⁴ But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” 
They answered Him, “No.” 

⁶ And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. 
⁷ Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. ⁸ But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. (John 21:1-8 NKJV)

I find it very interesting that the disciples immediately went back to their old ways when Jesus was gone. Simon Peter (the rock) himself, says "I am going fishing". Simon was going back to work. Simon wasn't going fishing 'to relax', Simon was going back to his old way of living.

They were out all night, and did not catch a single fish. He was working so hard in the night that he had removed his clothes. Some versions of the Bible say he was naked and stripped. This indicates that he must have been working hard.

For years I thought there must have been something miraculous about the right-side of the boat. I imagined hundreds of fish in a pod avoiding the fisherman's net, like a terrible game of monkey-in-the-middle. When the fisherman threw it on the left, the fish went right. When they threw it on the right the fish went left. 

This year, however I saw something new and had a new way of thinking. While I was meditating on this particular scripture I began to wonder, what if the translation into english didn't mean 'right-side'? What if the Greek word wasn't 'right' but was meant to translate into 'correct'? 

If you have studied the Bible in any length at all, you will find that the original Old Testament or Torah was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was originally written in Greek. Jesus and his disciples more than likely spoke both Hebrew, and the common language of the day Greek. Scripture says Jesus spoke "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." 

Upon studying the original Greek I found out something very interesting. While we read the english translation and it appears that the fish had all congregated on the right-side of the boat. The Greek word for 'right' in this sentence is actually dexios you might recognize this word as being dexterous, or dexterity. The Oxford dictionary defines it as being 'handy', or demonstrating skill. The Greek word according to The Strong's Concordance, is defined in two ways; 1. The right hand 2. A place of authority.

So imagine if you will Jesus (but you don't know it yet, it seems to you that there is just some stranger on the shore). He is on the shore and you are on the boat, you have been out all night long working your butt off trying to catch fish. They are not biting on anything. As a matter of fact your 'net' comes up empty every time. Now when you were with Jesus you saw blind eyes open, lame walk, thousands be feed and water become wine. But here you are doing what you have always done, and you can't catch a single fish!

That stranger yells from the shore "Hey you! Take authority over those fish! Cast your nets in the water again, but THIS TIME USE what you have learned from your teacher!" Now your thinking, "Really? Can I command as Jesus did? What was it that Jesus was always teaching us about authority? He gave it to us! (Luke 9:1)" Now, upon remembering this and hearing the those words from the shore, in faith and with authority you cast your nets and up come so many fish the net nearly breaks! Your pal Simon Peter jumps off the boat and swims to shore because there is only ONE man who would be able to teach and understand AUTHORITY and it was Jesus!

Right side or left side... neither! Choose the correct position!  The correct position in a situation is the position that lines up with the freedom and out-of-the-box type of faithful thinking that only the Word of God, can present! It is not labeled or generalized, it is the position that takes authority over the enemy and it is the position that stands for truth, justice, prosperity, sovereignty, nobility, and faithfulness! 

Take authority over your situation today, and begin to watch your circumstances line up!