Strategy is not my strong suit

I don’t have a plan. A plan for life. I am a terrible strategist because if I ever do bother to make a plan and the game changes I am undone because I don’t have the brain power or energy to prepare a contingency. (Contingency is not my favorite word, sellers of houses don’t like it much either).

Today’s story in Matt 13 fits my life right now. 

“47 “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 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. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

51 “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

“Yes,” they replied.

52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”’

Fish don’t live out a well planned and ordered life.

1. Hatch

2. Spawn or procreate

3. Don’t get caught or eaten

4. Get caught or eaten

5. Die 

Maybe that is a good plan. 

If I am like a fish, then I am somewhere in between step 3 and step 5. 

Then what?  

Die. 

Then what? Sorted by the angels. 

Am I a good fish or a bad fish? Red fish blue fish?

I am a bad fish. But I have a good savior who has forgiven all of my badness and tossed me in his basket. 

I am not righteous. Jesus is righteous and he has enough righteousness to cover my sinfulness with his righteousness and make me worth keeping. 

I sense the net closing in. It could be my childhood trauma that creates this awareness, almost dying at age 8 and actually dying at age 11, even if it was brief, tends to make me expect bad things to happen. Or it could be God letting me know that my shift is almost over. 

I wrote this 5 years ago. I sensed that there was going to be some global catastrophe but I didn’t know what It was or when it would happen. I thought the year 2020 would be significant. 

Now we have had a pandemic and are slowly coming out of it, however a major super power has invaded a neighboring nation and now nuclear war is suddenly a possibility. So the end could still be near. There is an end. There is a day when “the net will be hauled in”. Even if it isn’t a global catastrophe, each of us has a day appointed when God says, “okay, your life is over now…”

Before I go I must ask, do you know that Jesus died for our sins and was raised to life so that we can live with him forever? Today is a good day to receive him as your savior. I did. Join us.