One thing I just don't enjoy doing is fishing. But I love snorkeling and seeing the
brilliant and bold colors of reef fish. I've gone diving in Cozumel,
Thailand and of course here in Florida. The colors and the way a school
of fish move through the water show God's creativity and order.
Humans used to be like that too. They were not tainted by sin and their color
was pure. They lived together and didn't even think about living
independently. As they say in Star Trek: "The good of the many outweighs the good of the one," or something like that.
But humans aren't the only ones that have messed up. There was this fish I knew, Fred, and old Fred was awesome. He was the brightest yellow, blue
and green I've ever seen anywhere in or out of the water. When he swam by you couldn't help but take notice of him and be completely inspired by his movement and beauty. He fit into his environment like a hand in a well-tailored glove.
Fast. Fred was also very fast. Sometimes we'd call him "fast Fred." He's not to be confused with my old surfing buddy, Fast Fred Fleury. That Fred was fast too but it wasn't in the same way as Fred the fish. Fred swam with great ease and made his way
through the water with very little effort. One reason for that was he never brought along with him anything that would slow him down. When he was hungry, he ate. When he was tired, he slept. When he was inspired, he could fly over the water for at least
10 feet (3 meters). That was one of his tricks for avoiding becoming shark food.
Friendly. He was well-liked by all the reef dwellers. He was quick to swim ahead of
the school so he could alert them to any danger and always willing to
lead a predator off on a wild chase. No fish could catch Fred. Yep, all the fish on Reef Row loved Fast Fred. He
didn't use the others in his school for his own advantage and would never even think about leading them into some place where they could
get into trouble. He always put the other fish first. One of the sayings the younger fish used to repeat day after day was, "Fast friendly Fred always puts the other fish first." It helped them with their pronunciation. If you know anything about fish, you know they have problems with their "f's."
You would think that Fred wouldlive to an old age and then transition on to wherever it is the
righteous fish go. But that wasn't to happen. One time Fred was out swimming around and noticed a boat above the reef. Boats were fairly common and it was equally common for people to dive around the reef and watch the sea life. This time Fred noticed something flat and shiny attached to a string running through the water.
Fred was curiousabout this new thing he hadn't seen before so he swam up next to it--it wasn't moving very fast at the moment--and Fred noticed another fish in the shiny object. Of course there are no mirrors on the reef so what Fred saw was a reflection of himself but he didn't know any better. He was impressed. He winked at the reflection and it 
winked right back at him. He raced to the other side and blew some bubbles and sure enough, the reflection did the same thing. He was thinking that this was a very smart and handsome fish. Racing over to the other side, he moved up to the reflection and gave it a gentle nudge with his mouth and then realized that what he saw was actually himself. Now this was quite a revelation.
Fred, even though he had everything he would ever need and was completely and perfectly happy swimming around the reef, thought he needed this shiny thing. Suddenly, it sped away and disappeared into the boat. Fred was sad when he saw the boat motor away with the bright and shiny thing.
Fred swam back down to his reef and saw all his old friends in the school, but he didn't really want to hang out with them. They were so common and didn't shine nearly like
the shiny thing attached to the string.
Fred thought about the shiny thing a lot. He wondered if there were some way for him to have one of his own. He could somehow keep it with him underwater and show it to his friends. Boy, would they jealous if he had one of those. If he had that shiny thing, he'd not need anything because no one had a shiny thing like that one. He worried about that shiny thing for days and grew more and more somber to the point of becoming depressed.
He had to get himself a shiny thing. If he could, he'd be happy again. His world would make sense with a shiny thing hung around his neck. The shiny thing obviously had great power and he needed its power in able to get his life back to normal. So, he made it his quest to get the shiny thing.
A few days later, as he lulled around the reef, the
shiny thing came whizzing by him. Like a flash, Fred's energy returned and he bolted for the shiny thing. He would make it his own no matter what. He was fast Fred again and nothing could out swim him at Reef Row. He began to catch up to the shiny thing and his mind was filled
with thoughts of what he'd be able to do once he caught it and made it his own. He'd be more powerful than any of the other fish. He could impress that cute little red fish down by the large cave with his very own shiny thing. People would see him--he'd stand out in any crowd.
He'd forgotten, I suppose, that the colors God gave him were brighter
than any shiny thing and they brought great joy to those around him.
That wasn't important anymore. The only pursuit of importance right now
was to get the shiny thing and to make it his.
Fred finally caught up to the shiny thing and, opening his mouth wide, he grasped
it. It slid down his throat and he about exploded from the joy that the
possession of the shiny thing had given him. Now he was someone special. Now he could go where he wanted; do what he wanted; stay where he wanted. He was his own fish and there were no others on the reef like him.
As Fred started to swim back to the reef, he felt a strong jerk in his mouth and he was turned completely around. "What was that?" he thought. He tried to turn back toward the reef, but the tug came again and he felt himself being pulled toward the boat. He swam to the left and he swam to the right. He swam straight down and straight up but all the while he was being drawn closer and closer to the boat.
After a furious struggle, he began to tire. The thought of the shiny object
wasn't on his mind now. In fact, he'd completely forgotten about it. He was exhausted and could do nothing about the direction he was being pulled. He had lost control. Finally, he was along side of the boat and a net dipped down into the water and he felt himself being lifted up. There was nothing he could do to help himself.
A hand grabbed him, pliers were put down his mouth and then with a twisting and cutting motion he felt something come out of his throat--it was the shiny thing. It was no longer shiny, though. It was red with his blood. The hand put him on the deck of the boat and all Fred could do was twitch around and lay there, gasping for a breath of air. As he lay there, slowly dying, the once bright and beautiful
colors that had once identified him to all on the reef as Fast Fred, began to fade to a dull and lifeless gray.
I don't know. I don't know if Fred somehow got away or if he gave up the colors God gave him to the lifeless gray of death. It's not a very happy ending for such a happy fish.
We all started out like Fred, didn't we? Psalm 139 says it this way: You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous,how well I know it.
Unfortunately, somewhere along the way we forget how "marvelous" God's workmanship is and we begin to pursue the shiny thing that makes us think we are
missing something. It's in that fatal, life sucking pursuit that the beauty and color God has made us begins to fade until we become like those all around us who have forsaken God for shiny things: Dull, lifeless shells of what they once were. Because we look like them, we somehow think that it's OK. We look in the churches, and they are full
of gray people. We look in the gym, and they are gray--buff too. We look in forbidden relationships; we look in monetary security; we look in the halls of happiness and find that they are hopeless; we look in the comfort of drugs and alcohol and find they too become gray after the initial light up. It's all gray: Americans, Russians, East, West,
North, South, no matter where you go--it's gray.
Man, am I feeling depressed. Isn't there a way out of this mess? I guess that
depends on you. Do you have the strength to make a super fish twitch and flop yourself out of the clutches of the shiny thing and back into the ocean where your colors were so vibrant? How on earth will you do it?
You knew we'd get to that, didn't you? You knew I wouldn't
leave you hanging? OK, I'll tell you. It's a one-word solution and it
will take every bit of strength you have to put it to work so that you
can re-light your color. Tithe? No. Sell everything? No. But maybe
later. Faith? Increase your faith? Believe with all your might? No.
Those are all good things, but none of those lead you back to the color
of the Lord. (Yes, that is a lyric from an old song, if you were
wondering. That old song helped propel me toward Christ.) So what is
the one-word secret that will get you off the boat and back onto the
reef? REPENTANCE. There you are. Now you have it. Mystery solved.
Just think of Fred. When Fred saw the shiny thing, he became curious. Everyone knows that "curiosity killed the cat," but very few of us know that curiosity causes catastrophic collisions for Christians chasing shiny things. My old friend, Saint James (not the Monopoly place) said it like this: James 1:14 - 15 Temptation comes from our own desires, (sounds kind of like "curiosity") which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
I'll tell you this: That last sentence about "birth to death" is one of the scariest parts of Scripture I know. Christians, people who know better, look shiny things in the eye, chase them down, become impregnated by their deception and give birth to their own deaths. If only they'd been smarter than Fred. If only they'd spin around on their tail flipper and swim back to the reef where they belong. You see, when shiny thing catches our eyes, we have a choice. We can pursue it, or we can "repent," which means "to change our mind; to turn 180 degrees and go in the other direction.
action. It requires physical exertion. It demands we struggle against the shine. Do you know how many Christians day in and day out look at pornography on the web? Over a 100? Over a 1000? Probably over a 1,000,000. And why don't they turn it off? Because they say something lame every time after they look at it like, "Oh, I'm sorry God. Help me be stronger." The prayer is good. but if there's no action with the
prayer, well I don't give it much chance of being answered. What did David say to do: Psalm 101: 3-4 I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar...I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil.
Do you think those who gaze at pornography would still be gazing if they had taken their computers and thrown them down the stairs as they were praying for strength? When you see your brand new $1000 state of the art computer bouncing down the stairs it will cause you to pause and probably consider the insanity of your choices. Do you think they would be "giving birth to death" if they'd rejected perversity by confessing it to their Priest/pastor? How would you feel talking to the Priest about the porn you watched just prior to coming over to see him? A little embarrassed maybe? Ashamed? Do you think that kind of action would help you quit? I do. Action. It's got to be there or we all die on the deck of the boat, fading out to a pathetic, luke-warm gray.
Well, I guess you get the point by now. I hope you enjoyed the story of Fred
and will use his example as motivation to not chase after shiny things.
They have hooks you know!
very cool. -e