Have you ever been fishing? My first experience with fishing was in the pond behind our house; a pond I knew very well. Not only was it located 50 yards from my back door, but I lost quite a few baseballs in that pond over the years. However, I never spent much time fishing in that pond. Then one day, all that changed. My uncle was fishing and decided to teach me the finer points of the sport. He spent time teaching me about baits, how to cast the line in the water and what to do once you hooked a big one. Within a matter of minutes I had caught my first fish.

As exciting as it was to catch that fish, do you know what I remember most about that day? I remember the fish struggling to survive. That fish wanted to be back in the water. Water is a source of life for fish. Once a fish is out of water, it is unable to survive for very long.

Sometimes I feel as though Christians have a lot more in common with fish than we probably realize. You see, like fish, we sometimes allow ourselves to be pulled away from our source of life into a world that threatens our survival.

James writes, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

For Christians, a lot of times we are like fish out of water. We allow ourselves to bite the lure the world dangles before us and to be pulled away from obedience and faithfulness to God. We find ourselves giving our friendship and loyalty to the world and thereby making ourselves an enemy to God. Like fish, we take the bait and are pulled away into a world that threatens our survival, our eternal survival.

Sure the bait looks appetizing to the fish, but it’s just a trick. By the time the fish realizes it has made a huge mistake, it is struggling to survive. Let’s stay alert so we don’t become like a fish out of water.

Now that’s Something to Think About!