The other night I was reading a book by Alistair Begg, Brave By Faith, God-Sized Confidence in a Post-Christian World. It’s a book about how Christians should live in the post-Christian era, like right now. A line jumped out at me. It was in reference to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, some folks we really have life in common with, and some folks we could learn some valuable lessons from. The book is enlightening, and I would encourage you to read it, but the line that baited me was:
A dead fish flows with the current; it takes a live fish to swim against the stream.
You’re probably thinking, well right, you didn’t know that? But I’ve been chewing on it, meditating on it, trying to grasp why it hooked me, the significance of it. I’ve thought about this statement almost daily since reading it. I don’t know anything about fish but my grandmother did. Grandma Frye was a fisherman, from boat to skillet, she did it all. She’d go out early in the morning by herself and work on a catch. I’m guessing she was fishing upstream because she didn’t catch dead fish. She’d then come back when she was done her fishing and load us kids into the boat to work on our catch. A little sunny here and there was about all we’d get. You see, in order to catch fish you have to be still and you have to be quiet, neither of which us grandkids could do. I won’t speak for the others, but I still struggle with both!
Anyway, since I don’t know much about fish and their habits, I did a little investigating. I learned that it isn’t just dead fish that float with the current. Salmon migrate upstream to lay their eggs, but only the mature ones. The immature salmon don’t have the strength to swim great distances so they follow the current downstream. Salmon and some other fish swim upstream to procreate, they swim upstream for future generations. But, only the mature.
Something more native to West Virginia is the brook trout. I found out that trout must swim upstream, against the current, in order to breathe. How interesting is that? The water enters their mouths and exits their gills as they face upstream, that’s how they breathe. They die when they go with the flow downstream. A trout who allows himself to float downstream is self-destructive.
I also discovered that fish must constantly swim, they must constantly move and use their muscles in order to grow in order to be strong enough to swim against the current to avoid being swept downstream. It’s constant movement. It’s constant forward motion. To remain idle would not grow the muscles needed and would land a fish downstream, where the population is more dense, food more scarce, the water murkier, and predators prevail.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12
There are two forces at war in the heavenly realm – one force headed upstream, one force headed downstream. One leads to life, one leads to death. What direction are we headed in? Are we floating downstream or are we going against the current and moving upstream? If we are going with the flow, following the current, we will die. Just ask a trout. It’s the easy way but it’s the deadliest way. The salmon return to their place of birth each year to lay the next generation. It’s a difficult journey against the stream but the journey results in life. Life for the next generation.
Christians in this world are like fish out of water, or at least we’re supposed to be. This world isn’t our home, just a temporary layover. But, while we are here we’re expected to swim upstream. We can only do that if we have a desire to – do you have the desire to fill that hole in your heart that can only be filled by Jesus? We can only do that if we are strong enough – have we exercised our muscles in The Word of God or are we so weak that we can do nothing but be washed along by the undercurrent? We can only do it if we are intentional – do we follow Jesus with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength or are we complacently floating along? So, let’s get swimming! Choose Christ! Don’t go along with the flow, exercise your muscles so you will be strong enough for the journey upstream, no matter what, don’t stop swimming, only dead fish don’t swim.