I must admit, that I am not always the best at staying in touch with my friends, yet each and every one of them is special to me in their own particular way, and it hurts me to ever lose a friend.  In the last few months I have lost two very fine and close friends to death.  They are not really lost, because I know where they are.  It is just that I have lost contact with them until Jesus comes, or I go to be with them.  I miss them, but at least I was able to enjoy their friendship on earth, and will get to enjoy it for eternity in heaven.

There is a new way to lose a friend now that is more hurtful than death.  Now, with the advent of Facebook, if someone decides that they don’t want to put forth the effort to work through misunderstandings, they can simply “defriend” you from their Facebook account.  It probably isn’t really a new concept, but it is certainly new terminology to be defriended (as I write this my spell checker underlines it as a misspelled word!).  No one wants to be defriended, especially if they are like me and love people, even those that no longer wants to be their friend.

While there will always be misunderstandings that will sometimes result in people “defriending” you, it is good to know that there is One who will never “defriend” us; our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Even though we let Him down over and over and  sin against Him who died on the cross in our place, He will never defriend us, because He loves us.  Jesus is, ” . . . a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18: 24).  I thank God that I know Jesus as my friend, and that He knows me and loves me so much that nothing I could ever do would cause Him to defriend me.  Thank you, Jesus, my Lord, Savior, and Friend for all eternity.  I pray that you know Jesus as your Lord, Savior, and Friend too.

What I love about Spring is the warmer weather, the beautiful bluebird days, and most of all, the new life I see in nature as the grass becomes green, the trees begin to bud, and flowers begin to bloom after being dormant throughout the cold days of Winter.  I usually begin to look forward to the arrival of Spring shortly after the New Year.  As January and February drag by filled with their cold gray rainy days, my desire for the warm balmy days of Spring grows greater and greater.  With each passing day, I hope to see an early arrival of springtime weather.  But, no matter how long the winter or how cold and bleak the days may be, I know that Spring is coming.  I am sure of its arrival because that is the way God designed it to be.  I know as the winter draws closer and closer to an end, that soon warm weather will replace the cold, and new life will replace the grip of death winter has had on nature.

We have the hope of another Sping coming as well, when God wraps up the disease of death caused by sin and replaces it with the new heaven and the new earth.  The Apostle Paul spoke of this coming renewal:

Romans 8: 18-25 (NLT)

¹⁸Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. ¹⁹For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. ²⁰Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse. ²¹All creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. ²²For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. ²⁴Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don’t need to hope for it. ²⁵But if we look forward to something we don’t have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.

I don’t know about you, but I am patiently and confidently waiting with a springtime hope for this coming renewal of heaven, earth, and of those of us who are a part of the eternal kingdom of God.  Are you sure that you are a part of God’s kingdom? Are you certain of your salvation?  If not, now is the time to get ready.  Springtime (God’s renewal) is just around the corner.

God is not looking for new or novel ways to reach our world for Christ.  The only way the Church can succeed in impacting our world for Christ is through people who have been radically saved and changed by the awesome power of God in their lives.  So why then are we making so little of an impact on unbelievers?  I believe that part of the reason is because we have fallen into the trap of thinking that reaching people is dependent upon our intellect, our persuasive arguments, our innovative methodology, our charisma, etc., you get the idea. The only thing God needs to make an impact on our world for Christ is men and women who are wholly dedicated to Him. Again, Bounds wrote, “What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men—men of prayer.”

You see, we are the key.  We need not be the smartest or most gifted speaker to be used by God, but we must definitely be the most dedicated to God’s use.  We must be filled to the overflowing with His presence, His power, His personality, and His passion to save the lost, and the only way to do that is through spending time with God in prayer. 

When I was a young man serving as minister of music at a church, I began to notice older couples who had lived together for years as husband and wife.  I could easily have put each of these couples together without anyone ever telling me who was married to whom, because they looked alike, thought alike, and acted alike.  The striking similarities were due to the fact that they had spent so much time together that they had actually become one in body, mind, and spirit. The same is true for the person who has walked and talked with God through years of consistent and constant communion with Him in prayer.  As we spend time with God in prayer, we become one with him in heart, mind, and spirit.  We think like God thinks, we act like God would want us to act, we talk like God would have us talk, and we love like God would have us love.  You see, we are God’s message, and we are God’s method.  But the key to being used by God is by becoming like Him, and that my friend only comes by much prayer.

Jesus put it this way: ⁴“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. ⁵“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15: 4 – 5)

Let’s become people that God can use to build His kingdom by abiding in Christ through constant and persistent prayer.

⁴⁷“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; ⁴⁸and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. ⁴⁹“So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, ⁵⁰and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

My thoughts immediately began to go back to my “growing up” days on a farm where we raised catfish.  As I thought about what Jesus’ was saying, God began to formulate the following story in my mind.  I hope it will motivate all of us to be more aware that time is drawing near when those who are Christ-followers will be separated from those who are not followers of Christ.  We need to try to bring them into the kingdom of God before it is too late!

The Parable of the Fish Pond

Life was really great in the pond.  The water was deep and wide.  The fish had freedom to swim and explore the limits of the pond to their heart’s content.  They had learned all about the pond.  They knew every inch of it, but no one really knew what lay beyond the surface or past the water’s edge.  Sometimes they even speculated about the unknown beyond the surface.

One day at a local gathering Large Mouth told about the time he struck at what he thought was just an easy meal. “Suddenly I found myself being pulled toward the water’s edge,” he recounted.  “Frantically I fought to get loose, but I couldn’t until finally, in utter desperation I leapt through the surface, and with all my might I shook my head and the thing let go of my lips.”  He shook his big head and said, “It’s a strange world up there.  It’s brighter than anything I’ve ever seen before, and it’s dry too.  Why, I don’t think we could live up there more than a minute or two.”  He shuttered, “We fish were made for the pond and nothing else.”

“What about when we die,” Channel Cat asked?  “Surely there is more to life than just this pond.”  “What do you mean?  When we die, we die, that’s all there is,” growled Mud Cat.  “We just become fertilizer for the algae.”  “But think about it,” Channel Cat persisted.  “Where did our pond come from?  It is so complex that surely you don’t think it just happened? And, what about all that food that falls on the surface every day just before dark, doesn’t that show us that there is Someone up there who is interested in us fish?  And if He cares enough to see that we have food to eat, don’t you think that he has plans for us beyond this life”?

“How can you be sure there is Someone up there who cares for us,” questioned Grass Carp.  “Have you ever seen Him, smelled Him, touched Him, tasted Him, or heard Him speak?”

“Well, no, but I’ve seen that food come every day.  I’ve seen the light come on above and then go off again just like clockwork.  I’ve seen fresh water gush into the pond when it had become alarmingly shallow.  I’ve seen the surface churn violently when the water was so hot that we were all about to suffocate, and realized that all of a sudden we could breathe more easily and we felt renewed and refreshed again.  I have to believe that there is more to life than just this pond.  I believe that there is someone up there that watches over us and cares about us and has a greater purpose planned for us.”

Well, I’m glad you believe that fish tale,” retorted Mud Cat, “because I sure don’t.”

Even though the fish couldn’t all agree on what lay beyond the surface, they continued to live in the pond together, each going about his days in his own way.  Channel Cat ate his food each day before dark and wondered what the One who provided it was like.  Mud Cat wallowed deep into the cool muddy bottom of the pond and slept away most of his days.  Large Mouth was usually busy gobbling up the smaller fish in the fish eat fish world of the pond.  Mean-while, Grass Carp was constantly carping and complaining about the poor quality of the grass he had to eat.

One day they encountered something new in the pond; something they had never seen.  It ran the entire width and depth of the pond.  Try as they might, they could not get around it, under it, over it, or through it.  They were trapped!  Slowly, but surely, it cut them off from more and more of the pond, herding them all closer and closer to the water’s edge, until finally there was nowhere else to go.

Bumping against one another, like sardines in a can, they were enveloped by that strange thing until suddenly and violently, they were yanked out of the water into that dry world beyond the surface.  There they lay, helplessly, and hopelessly flopping about on that previously unknown shore.

Quickly, workers of the owner began to sort through the wiggling, writhing fish, gathering Channel Cat and all his kindred into an aerated tank where they were transported and soon released into their new home.  Their new home was a lake with the freshest, cleanest, and clearest water they had ever seen.  This lake had no surface, no bottom, and no shores.  But best of all, in this lake, no fish ever died.  It was such a wonderful place that they called it “Heaven.”

Sadly, not all of the fish went to the lake, but only those who were suitable for the Owner’s use.  Mud Cat and his type, Grass Carp and his type, even ole Large Mouth and his type, along with a large host of other trash fish, were thrown up on the dry shore in the blistering hot sun.  Gasping for air through their dried out gills, they lay there wishing to die, but death would not come.

Grass Carp complained, “I thought you said there was nothing more for us fish beyond the surface except to die and become fertilizer for the algae!”  “How was I to know there was something more beyond the surface?  Besides, you’re the one who denied that there was Someone who was taking care of us,” murmured Mud Cat.

I just wish I’d listened to Channel Cat and not spent all my time trying to be King of the Pond,” lamented Large Mouth.  And so it continued for all eternity; suffering death, but never dying.  Dry and waterless, hot and hotter, why, if you think of it, you might call it Hell.

But you know, as well as I, that this parable is not about fish, but about people; men and women, boys and girls.  It is not about a pond, but about a world filled with people of many kinds, but only two different types; those who are citizens of God’s kingdom, and those who are not citizens of God’s Kingdom.  It is not about a pond owner, but about the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

This parable is about separation.  It is about heaven and hell.  It is about where each of us will spend eternity.  It is about choosing who you’re going to serve.

Colossians 2: 13 – 14

¹³When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, ¹⁴having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

- Greg