Hooks...

We’re All Hooked!

As a child I remember going fishing with my mom.  She loved fishing and catching fish wasn’t absolutely necessary to her enjoyment..  She could sit on the riverbank, bait her cane pole with an unfortunate worm and fee countless fish without catching anything.  She just enjoyed being there – watching the flow of the river and dangling those worms in the warm water.  It was peaceful for everyone except the worm.

As I have grown older and gone fishing I too enjoy the ‘just being there’ like Mom did.  I’m hooked on the peacefulness of the rivers flow and the ‘fishing’- poor worms.  I live in California now and there are a lot of rules that apply to the fisherman, lots of places where you can’t fish, restrictions on when you can fish for certain kinds of fish and what type of gear you can use.  I have discovered that there are different kinds of hooks you are allowed to use or not use as the case may be.  There are barbed hooks and  barbless hooks and ‘game laws’ that dictate the use certain hooks for certain game fish.  I’ve often wondered why game laws restrict the use of barbed hooks for some kinds of fish and recently I realized that fishing with the barbless hook causes less damage to the fish and facilitates safe, easy removal of the hook. 

Now, this is not a fishing blog (well maybe sort of…in the sense of fishers of men) so why am I talking about fishing gear?  Well, while thinking about my mom and her ‘ addiction’ to just fishing , I got to thinking about being ‘hooked’.   So, let me share a few thoughts on “Hooks”.

God calls us all to be ‘fishers of men’ and as such we need to be familiar with God’s fishing gear.  Spiritually speaking , God only goes fishing with  barbless hooks;  while Satan’s tackle box is only equipped with barbed hooks.  Why??

 Ever tried removing a hook from the mouth of the fish you just caught?  A fish caught on a barbed hook will not be able to free itself once the hook is swallowed.  The barbed hook has a tiny ‘thorn’ at its tip that digs into the soft tissue of the fish.  Once the hook is swallowed the fish will find it almost impossible to disgorge (spit out) the hook.  Conversely, a fish caught on a barbless hook can usually manage to spit the hook out, unless the fisherman is very smart.  Fishing with barbless hooks gives the fish the advantage.  Have you ever tried to remove a hook from the mouth of a fish?

 

God designed each of us with the ability to intelligently make choices and then released us to make those choices.  When He God goes fishing for men, He chooses to do so with barbless hooks.  Those who are caught by the Spirit will escape the hook easily unless they choose not to fight the tug of the Spirit. Those who desire to do so may slip off the hook (backslide) whenever they choose.

Satan’s barbed hooks are the hooks of addiction: worldly desires, fame, drugs, and self-pride.  Once hooked on these  barbs it is almost impossible to escape the tug on the line.  Those caught up on these hooks must desire to be freed from the hook; then and only then can God free them.  

I am hooked God’s line…not fighting the tug of the Spirit.  So blessed to be spared the barbed hooks of this world and the scars they leave behind.