Good Fish

Matthew 13:47-50

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and 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. So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

My Thoughts: Don’t you just love how Jesus spoke to people in parables? He always explained the spiritual realm in a way that humans could understand. He uses earthly things to explain the things that we can’t see. I just love that about Him!

As I was reading chapter 13 this morning, I was reminded that a day of judgement is coming where the righteous will be divided from the wicked. The righteous will spend eternity with God, in Heaven and the wicked will be thrown into a lake of fire forever. What is interesting to me is that the Fishermen are the ones who determine which fish are good (acceptable) and which fish are bad (unacceptable). The fishermen pulled all of the fish up in the net, but after taking a closer look, threw many fish out.

The fish weren’t the ones that decided what was going to happen to them, the fisherman did. Jesus is THE FISHERMAN! It is Jesus who determines which people are good and which people are bad. He decides who will and who will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. I think many people today are confused and misled. They believe that they are “good enough” and have come up with their own standard(s) for their lives. Just like the fish, people are going about their lives, thinking everything is fine. Most people believe that they are in great condition (spiritually). Then the net comes and rounds them up, and they soon find out they are not up to the FISHERMAN’s standard.

You see, none of us our perfect. That word righteous doesn’t mean that we are perfect. Being righteous means that we have accepted Christ’s perfectness. We are all born with a sinful (imperfect) nature and the only way we can be viewed as righteous, is by accepting Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as payment for our sinful nature. This is what makes us righteous. This is what makes us GOOD FISH!