Throw Me Yonder

Often when I am fishing on the bank of a pond or lake, the fish I release back to the water will just lay at the edge.  I like to see how long it takes them to get back to the water. Usually one or two flips will get them back in the safety of their comfortable environment.  I do remember one fish that just didn’t seem to want to go back to the lake.  It literally just kept flipping the opposite direction.  Poor thing, I finally picked it up and tossed it back in the water.  Recently, it hit me…

Jesus was a fisher of men.  He challenged His followers and He charges us to be fishers of men.  We speak of dying to self a lot.  Here is a picture. Jesus calls us through His Spirit to be saved.  We turn from ourselves to Him in repentance and receive God’s forgiveness through grace.  But we often forget the cost of the turning.  It is much like that strange fish flipping the opposite direction.  We must in like manner say to Jesus, by faith, throw me yonder, far away from the shore, where I cannot flip back to my old life.  The obvious conclusion is death.  The picture ends there.  Following Christ does not result in a slow, painful death by asphyxiation. Jesus promised that to lose your life you will gain it.  He also promised a life abundant and eternal.    He has indeed made me alive to a whole new way.

Come out of the water!  The land is great!

Coach/PJ