[008] MESSAGE FROM A POEM - A TALE OF THE FISH’S TAILS
“Take the line of least resistance; go with the flow; jellyfish that drift; leave me out of it; I see both sides; don’t involve me; I don’t want to know!” The world is full of compromise and it gets worse. We can expect no less from this sinful world, but what about Christians?
I was leaning over a rail watching all these small fish a few inches long battling against the exit to a dam in the wetlands. They were battling and there was a school of them. I was impressed with the tails that were swiftly fanning to achieve their goal. We are familiar with salmon as they thresh against the current to get to their spawning grounds. I came home and wrote this poem.
Compromise and the Christian is a serious matter. There are many ways to compromise and I won’t do that here, but will say this – compromise is when you paste over a direction of God He has declared to us such as this one – {{Romans 12:1 “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship, AND DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”}}
If you want to be faithful for the Lord, then you will most certainly get resistance. What do we then do? Become a jellyfish that drifts with the tide or take our stand for the Lord. Consider these verses –
{{1Corinthians 16:13 “Be on the alert. STAND FIRM IN THE FAITH. Act like men. Be strong.”}}
{{Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore KEEP STANDING FIRM and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”}}
{{Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the full armour of God, that you may be ABLE TO STAND FIRM against the schemes of the devil,” Ephesians 6:13-14 “Therefore, take up the full armour of God, that you may be ABLE TO RESIST in the evil day, and having done everything, TO STAND FIRM. STAND FIRM therefore, having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness”}}
I wonder how many Christians will not hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” because they were serving another, being careless, compromising, or ashamed of the Lord?
A TALE OF THE FISH’S TAILS
I watched some fish the other day,
As they swam against the current.
They struggled in the stream that flowed -
From a small dam the water went.
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Those fish gathered there in numbers;
Small ones, hoping to reach the dam.
Tails were threshing; bodies swaying –
Not a log jam, but a fish jam.
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I thought about people who pushed
Against the norm; against the tide.
Some of those are trouble makers.
Others have conscience on their side.
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Christians can face opposition
Because they don’t fit the world’s mould.
They are “misfits”, not of this age,
Where this world to evil, is sold.
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What now – to follow Caesar’s path,
Or true to God one must remain?
To accept the world’s wrong standards,
Is to let your Christian faith wane.
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God does not reward compromise,
Or spineless, gutless fish that drift.
We must take our stand against wrong;
Secure our ground and not shift.
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In the face of opposition
To godly values we profess,
We must push forward in the race,
With Christ's own strength that we possess.
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Those fish to us are examples,
Of those who will achieve the goal;
Against the tide, to be willing,
To keep their testimony whole.
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Would you understand if I said,
“Good Christians also have good tails?”
It is courage for our Saviour
He expects, and it never fails.
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The pressures in this world will grow
To compromise for wickedness,
So swim like fish against the tide,
And gain your crown for faithfulness.
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R E Ferguson 29 January 2022 Metre = 8 throughout ABCB