January 10, 2019 – Click here to listen
I was talking to a former star rodeo clown buddy of mine the other day and the subject of fishing came up. He has a successful ministry for school children nowadays and also does some prison ministry in addition to maintaining a job. I invited him to come to my home in Florida and go deep sea fishing with me and then I asked, “You do like fishing, don’t you?” I assumed he did because he lives in the bayou country and the fishing is extraordinary there.
He laughed and told me that he liked fishing so much that it became a huge problem for him. He reached the point where all he wanted to do was fish and literally began going fishing every single day of the year for quite some time. It affected his ministry, his family, and his job. He told me that he had to get a grip on it and force himself to quit fishing so much.
Hmmm . . . This got me to thinking. Was I guilty of going overboard on my favorite pastime too? Uh – yeah . . . If I wasn’t fishing, I was working on tackle, prepping bait, or spending time with my buddies talking about it. I wasn’t getting near enough done for the Lord. Something had to be done, so this year one of my goals is to calm down on the fishing considerably. This is not to say I’m abstaining from it; I would never voluntarily do that. It is to say that I’m taking a more moderate approach.
The Bible teaches that we should do everything in moderation. As much as I enjoy fishing, I had to come to the same conclusion my buddy did and realize that there was important work that needed to be done for the kingdom and I cannot do my job if I’m fishing all the time. I suspect this is true for golfers, TV watchers, party goers, hunters, hikers, mountain climbers, health and muscle building fanatics, eaters, and religious nuts.
I believe that God wants us to balance our lives. Everything in moderation doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a zeal for Jesus or the abundance of enjoyable things He makes available to us. We should focus on Him and yet make time for the other things in life that He has gifted to us.
I’m glad it is cold and windy here today. It must be miserable to those guys fishing offshore in this snotty weather . . . Thank you Jesus for removing that temptation today . . .
1 Cor. 6:12
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything.