Fish

By Odon Bulamba (19 October 2001)

There was a young boy in the Bible (John 6:8-9) who had five small barley loaves and two small fish. With this small amount of food he was able to feed five thousand men because the adults didn’t realize that they had to take food with them to eat when following Jesus.

We are going to look at the fish this young man had. Our Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all the bread of life. I don’t know if fish belong to the animals or reptiles, but those who know biology or zoology can help us. A fish has blood, a backbone and scales and are different to other animals. We all know what a fish is and that fish are a good source of food. People who study fish recognize it contains protein and vitamins. A fish lives in water and cannot live without it because that is how God created it.

The fish represents a good Christian because it must live in water all his life. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman He is living water and whoever drinks from Me will never thirst. When a fish lives in water it is never thirsty, we don’t know when it drinks or when it cries because nobody can see its tears. The water is the Word of God and as Christians we are called to live in this Word, and when we are thirsty nobody knows if we are drinking or not.

When we have hard times or problems we go into the Word of God without the world seeing us. When a fish is in the water it doesn’t float, if it did you would think it was dead. So how many Christians today want to float on the Word of God? We confess the Word of God but deep inside we are different to what we confess with our mouths. For example, someone might say, “do you know that I’ve been a Christian for two years and I know the Bible from Genesis to Revelation?” This is good to know but faith without works is dead, and the Bible says that as Christians we must not limit ourselves to the Word only.

Romans 2:13

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous

To hear the Word is not bad but this doesn’t please God, God asks us to put it into practice. We must not be like a fish floating on the water without life, but we must go deep into the water to know where life is. Who can tell me why a living fish doesn’t float? A fish cannot float because its nature doesn’t allow it and the way a fish swims makes it impossible to float. When a fish is above the water it knows danger lurks because they can’t see as well and become vulnerable to birds hunting them for food.

As for Christians today we don’t feel anything deep in the Word of God. If you ask someone when did they last read their Bible in depth you will see that two months have passed without meditating. But everywhere we go we still claim that we are good Christians.

With fish we have different categories, we have small fish, middle sized fish and big fish. A small fish will always live under the rocks and are victims to the fisherman’s hook. With a small hook and a bit of bait the small fish will always go for the bait because all it wants to do is fill its stomach. The little fish never think about traps or dangers and are always victims. Christians are also like this, they always want to live under the rocks and don’t want to live in deep water and when the devil throws in his hook they are the first ones to bite. These Christians fall into sin every time and it is their fault because they don’t want to deepen their spiritual life. They have no time to pray or meditate on God’s Word and because of this they don’t know if they have committed a sin.

We also have the middle-sized fish that live a bit deeper in the water. All they do is eat the small fish. They don’t take time to search for food but wait for the small fish to appear and eat them. Christians are also like this, instead of living their spiritual life they always look at Christians who are weaker and put them down. They are there just to criticize and despise others. A fisherman is wise. Instead of using a hook he uses a net to catch bigger fish and that is what the devil does. He destroys spiritually young Christians and attacks middle-sized Christians.

Now let’s look at the big fish called a shark. Most big fish don’t have scales and are never caught, if you try to catch them they slip away. It is the same thing with mature Christians; we must do everything to prevent the devil from catching us. If the devil grabs our tail we must flee. So if sin comes and you see it, don’t waste your time thinking about it; just flee. If sin comes and you fail, just kneel down and confess.

Do you know what big fish eat? Do they eat other fish? When a big fish eats it represents a good Christians because it receives everything from others. He will be criticized, abused and all kinds of negative things will enter his heart, but it will not make him sick. He must resist so he can carry on in life.

I (Odon) want to give you my personal testimony. I know the person who killed my dad. One day someone asked me if I had forgiven the person who killed my father? I said yes I must forgive him because if you forgive you will be forgiven, and if I don’t love the person beside me, how can I love God?

When Christians fall into a mistake today it is hard for them to confess what they have done, and when someone hurts them they keep bitterness in their hearts until death. Some Christians think about revenge hoping a car will hit the person who offended them, or they wish their house would crush them to death. When someone does wrong against us we curse him or her. We forget about all the good things and focus on all their wrong doings.