OP-ED: A DEHYDRATED FISH
Matthew 4: 18-20 “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.”
By Van Yandell
“He’s like a fish out of water!” That’s a saying we’ve heard describing a person that was out of place and at times, obviously so.
Fish need water but so do humans. The earth’s surface is seventy-one percent covered with water. That water makes us the blue planet which is a color at times associated with life. We are told to drink certain amounts of water every day.
The National Academy of Science tells us to drink 3.7 liters of water per day for men; that’s about one gallon. Women are advised to drink about 2.7 liters. Margie said I should drink eight glasses of water each day. I said “Fine, what’s the smallest glass we have?”
A urologist once told me to drink water with lemon every day for kidney health. I took that advice and have had no kidney problems since. I’m told kidney stone pain is equivalent to child birth. If that were true, the world population would probably be much less than eight billion!
The plant life in the oceans produces over half of the earth’s oxygen. Some estimate that number may be as high as eighty percent. Definitions and descriptions vary as to exactly what seaweed includes. Phytoplankton, kelp, and algal plankton are usually included and produce tremendous amounts of our oxygen.
Scuba-diving off the Florida Keys, I noticed the tremendous amount of plant life under the surface. Coral appears as a rock-like material but it is actually alive.
When shrimping on Mosquito Lagoon by the Kennedy Space Center, our underwater lights became constantly entangled with seaweed. Plant life under the seas, considering the salinity of the water, is surprising but is there in abundance.
We know the earth’s atmospheric movements circulate the produced oxygen, making it possible for us to breathe anywhere on the earth (Ecclesiastes 1: 6).
God had the essential components for the production of life at creation (Genesis 1: 1-3). A combining of carbon based matter (the earth), light and water result in the production of chlorophyll from which a by-product is oxygen.
God not only is the first and greatest recycler (Ecclesiastes 1: 7), He is also the Great Reciprocater. Humans and other animals breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Plant life uses the carbon to produce more oxygen.
Any way we carve this up, water is essential for life on earth. A “fish out of water” is a cliché referring to someone feeling awkward, uncomfortable or struggling. Eventually that fish will succumb to its lack of oxygen. Gills were not designed to function out of water.
Anyone that has ever wet a line (fished), has seen a fish out of water. They flop around, struggling to survive. Life becomes unbearable with their inability to breathe and swim. Eventually, death overcomes them.
A dehydrated fish and a spiritually dehydrated Christian are somewhat similar. Jesus gave us (by one source) over 1000 commandments. We are New Testament Christians yet we at times place more emphasis on the Old Testament Ten Commandments (Exodus 20).
Christians are promoting the reinstatement of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, public buildings and in park areas. While this is well and good, let’s not forget about the other mandates Jesus gave us.
Matthew 22: 36-38 “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
This is directly tied to the first Commandment in the Old Testament (Exodus 20: 3-5). How many of us have priorities in our lives other than studying our Bibles or spending time with God in prayer and meditation?
Yes, we are those dehydrated fish! Is it time to re-evaluate our lives and more specifically, our priorities? The church is obviously failing to evangelize and the world is suffering because of that failure.
If the Apostle Paul were alive today, the American church would receive a letter! If John were writing Revelation chapters two and three today there would be eight churches of the Revelation rather than seven.
We are facing a situation in our world in which the negligence of the church has become apparent and shows on a monumental scale. Without the teachings/commandments of God in the Old and New Testaments, our world will continue to degrade into a state of danger, fear and chaos.
When the world does not understand and value the differences in right and wrong, humanity deteriorates into a state of inhumanity.
Mao Zedong said “A guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.” A guerrilla is a fighter. We cannot become soldiers for the cross by remaining in our comfort zones with the attitude “Let someone else tell the world about Jesus.”
The last words spoken by Jesus before He ascended were Acts 1: 8 “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
We have no excuse! The uttermost part is no longer the other side of the world; it is here. We have the financial resources, the technology and the people. This societal condition has reached a state of urgency. We are seeing and reading in the news every day of man’s evil tendencies. How long can this last?
The Bible teaches there is only one eternal salvation. That is by a faith based belief (Ephesians 2: 8) that Christ Jesus was crucified (Matthew 27: 35) for the remission of sin (Romans 4: 25), resurrected (Matthew 28: 6) and ascended alive into Heaven (Acts 1: 9).
Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and missionary, from Fredonia, Kentucky. His email is vmy3451@gmail.com