If you’ve ever looked at the teachings of Jesus Christ, you know that Jesus loved to use parables.
Jesus took a well-known subject to his audience and would use it to teach them profound spiritual truths.
God can still use parables.
I know that in my own life, he likes to use things I am familiar with.
God uses things I can understand to help me learn spiritual truths he is working on teaching me.
God used something I’m “somewhat” familiar with to teach me some profound spiritual truths the other day.
Read on to discover what I learned by watching my minnow among my goldfish.
A Turning Point
About a month and a half ago I decided I would like to try to take care of some fish.
I’ve tried in the past but unfortunately most never lived past the first two or three days. As a result, I knew I didn’t want to spend a lot of money investing in this project.
After doing some research, I found a really good deal on an online yard sale (love those!).
I got a 10 gallon fish tank with lid, filter, decorations, fish food, and six goldfish for $35.
What can I say? he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.
When I got the fish home, I was excited to find that I had a baby goldfish.
Once home, I asked everyone in the house to come over to the tank because I wanted to share with them my excitement. I told them about how I had bought five goldfish and one of them was a baby.
I named the little baby goldfish “Tiny”. We took a ton of pictures of him to chart his growth.
At least once a week for the last six weeks, I’ve taken a picture of Tiny to see how he’s changed.
I couldn’t wait to watch this little fish grow as big as his tank mates.
One day, a good friend of mine who has a fish tank himself came over…
The Truth Hurts
While we watched the fish eat, I asked my friend if he thought that my “baby goldfish” was ever going to grow because he had not changed at all in the few weeks that I had him.
He said he didn’t know if he should tell me or not (he didn’t want to disappoint me). Finally he shared that he did not think my new pet was a baby goldfish but a mature minnow.
I set out to prove to him the fish was a baby goldfish by going to Google.
Instead of proving my point, I learned that my fish was a rosy red minnow.
Rosy red minnows have the same color as my goldfish (see here).
In my defense, their similar color made it easy to think that it was a young goldfish.
Now, you might be asking, what is the big deal? Why is it important that my “baby goldfish” wasn’t a goldfish but a minnow?
It’s important because this incident was a reminder to me that things are not always as they seem.
It was a lesson that I do believe was given by God to teach me some important spiritual truths.
Please allow me a moment to share these truths with you in detail.
Know Who God Is
To the untrained eye, my minnow looked like the rest of my goldfish except smaller.
It took the eye of a friend who has spent more time with goldfish than I have to tell the difference.
In 2 Corinthians Chapter 11, the Apostle Paul warns the church to be careful. He says that there are some who would preach a different Jesus than the one that they knew.
He reminds us that even the devil himself masquerades as an angel of light (verse 14).
It is imperative that we get into the word every day so that we can become familiar with who God is.
We will not be so easily decived b the devil if we do.
In a sermon one time, my Dad made the statement that Peter got in trouble when he made the choice to warm himself by the wrong fire.
His point was this, if Peter had stayed with the master, and allowed the Spirit of God to move on him, he could’ve better stood against the temptation to deny Jesus.
Know the Word of God and Beware the Counterfeit Jesus
The Bible calls Jesus the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (referenced is Revelation 5:5).
The Bible also says in 1 Peter 5:8 that we must be vigilant, be aware of our surroundings because our enemy the devil is prowling around LIKE a lion seeking who he can devour (emphasis mine).
The devil will always do his best to appear as the son of God. If God himself does something, the devil will attempt to do something similar except he is a counterfeit, a fake.
The Bible says in John 8:44 the devil has “no truth in him” and goes one step farther by calling him the “father of lies”.
If we do not know enough about the character of God through what his word says and what is revealed to us in prayer, we will be more easily deceived by the devil.
I cannot stress this enough, KNOW THE WORD OF GOD.
Read the Bible, grab hold of the word of the Lord, do as the Psalmist David did and hide God’s word in your heart that you might not sin against him (see Psalm 1119:11).
Don’t Be Ashamed of Who You Know
The Bible says that we are not to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord Jesus but share in suffering for the gospel (see 2 Timothy 1:8).
The word of God reminds us that if we are ashamed of God now, he will be ashamed of us when he returns from heaven (see Luke 9:26).
Once you learn the word of God, handle the word right, handle it with care , and use it to exhort others.
Lead them in the way that is right so that you can be a worker who doesn’t have any need of being ashamed (see 2 Timothy 2:15).
Conclusion
What in your life is not as it appears? What needs to leave and what needs to grow in your life?
I cannot answer these questions for you but what I can do is pray with you that God would give you wisdom to see what is truth and what is a lie from the devil himself.
The Bible says that if anyone lacks wisdom let him ask God who gives generously and it will be given. Would you mind praying with me?
Prayer
Dear Lord,
I thank you for the lessons you have taught us and that you’ve reminded us not all is as it appears to be.
I thank you that you have given us your written word the Bible, and the Holy Spirit so that we can know with certainty what is of you and what is not.
God, I pray that as we seek to learn more about who you are, you would give us wisdom.
Help us to grow in our relationship with you and that you would give us a fresh zeal for your word and the gospel so that when you come back, we can be workers who were not ashamed, and workers that you can be proud of.
The devil comes not but to steal, kill, and destroy. I thank you that you came to give us life and life more abundant!
Thank you for all that you are doing both in my life and the lives of each and every person that reads this. I give you all of the praise, glory, and honor forever and ever.
Amen.
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