Devo: Cleaning Fish
Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to be more like you. Forgive me for my sins and cleanse me from unrighteousness. Help me not to avoid the tough jobs that are a part of the Christian life, particularly if they strengthen others and promote fellowship.
Scripture: “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.” 2 Peter 1:5-9 NIV
Devotion: Most fishermen love to catch fish and many people love to eat fish, but few people like to clean fish. Having to clean fish at the end of a long day of fishing can turn a fun trip into work! However, if you have ever eaten a whole fish that had a few scales left on it or some fish filets that had bones in it, you quickly realize that the fish weren’t thoroughly cleaned. You can always throw the fish back instead of cleaning them, but without cleaned fish, there would be no fish fry.
My grandmother loved to clean fish more than anyone. We could bring home several extra large stringers of brim, bass and catfish. She would greet us with a smile and help us clean the fish until the job was all done. Not only did she like to clean fish, she was good at it and we appreciated her help. She would also fry the fish for us. My brothers and I felt like real men as we helped to feed our family with the fish we caught.
Now that I am older and my grandmother has gone to be with the Lord, I realize that the joy she received from cleaning fish was all about the fellowship. She enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren teaching us valuable lessons. She also looked forward to how proud we would be telling fishing stories around her dinner table. Of course we would all brag about catching the largest fish. Cleaning fish probably wasn’t her favorite job, but the rewards of clean fish were priceless to her.
Jesus Christ died on the cross to cleanse us from our sins. It was certainly not a job that He wanted to do given the horrific physical abuse and needless undeserved punishment He endured to free us from our sin. He could have refused. He had the superhuman strength to stop the men who were crucifying Him. He endured the cross for us so we could be thoroughly cleansed and the scales of our sin would be fully washed away. He did it because He could see the joy of our redemption. He knew that after His sacrifice we could enjoy fellowship at His table.
Excerpted from A Walk on Water with Jesus Vol One.