Good Fish - Bad Fish

Once again we come to a new year, 1/1/11; to that end everyone, Happy and Blessed New Year.  I am fond of fish for dinner and even a lunch, and as we traveled we saw some very inventive ways of fishing.  We like to catch fish and eat what we catch; but not all fish, some are "bad fish" and we throw them out.  This year we tried several fish; of note the Elephant Ear Fish of Vietnam and the Squirrel Fish of China. 

Squirrel fish chosen for dinner in Beijing

Our fish prepared

Elephant Ear Fish for our salad rolls in MeKong Delta

Fishing is a very patient sport, one that I often times don't have the patience for.  But as we have seen, net fishing, as with poles, catches both good and bad fish.  At times, the net is so full it may break.  In the final metaphor of the passage that I have been quoting the last few days I'm sure it really hit home with His disciples who many were fisherman on the Sea of Galilee.

""Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. "Have you understood all these things?" Jesus asked." Matt 13:47-51

The parable is very pointed and clear that there will be a "sifting" of those that go to heaven.  Andy Stanley wrote a excellent book since nobody's perfect How Good Is Good Enough?  Even though there are those that want to be inclusive in the world and make sure that nobody's feelings are hurt so there must be multiple ways to get to Heaven; Stanley spells out how good you need to be.  

So the next time you are at the market to get some fish or setting out to wet a worm at your favorite river, lake, or ocean, think about Jesus' sorting process of the "good" and "bad" fish and make sure that you and everyone you know is prepared when the time comes.