Lesson of the Sharks

This article was sent to me by a good friend. He is the son of a minister and an Elder at the Evers Road Christian Church in San Antonio, TX. 

Pat is a genuine, faithful, and true servant of God. I am honored to know him.

I was flipping channels or TV surfing the other night and stopped on the Discovery channel and watched a show that caught my eye about sharks. Some idiot was under water in a shark proof cage and a great white shark tore up the cage and almost got the guy—so much for shark proof—but the guy was brave.

I have attached a picture of a shark that I took. I was not in a cage and the shark was in an aquarium.

For sure sharks are amazing creatures. Mostly they are just eating machines.

Did you know; Sharks will not out grow their environment. Put a shark in a small aquarium and the shark will stay small—12 inches long.

Put that shark in the ocean and it will grow to 12 feet long.

In a similar way: spiritually some people never grow and they stay small due to their spiritual environment. You cannot grow spiritually in a small dull lukewarm or dead church.

Of course I have always felt that dull people like a dull church and do nothing people like a do nothing church.

I have noticed that people, who have not grown spiritually, never achieve anything significant for the Lord because they lack faith and are afraid of failure. Remember it takes faith to get in the water with sharks just like it takes faith to try anything that might be risky.

Look up the word "fail" in a thesaurus and you'll find terms like: blunder, break down, fall, fizzle, flop, flounder, fold, lose out, and disappoint. These are strongly negative words, and sometimes we're so afraid of them we don't move forward in the endeavors or possibilities that God has for us.

Question, what would you do today that you aren't doing if you knew you could not fail?

When fear of failure keeps you from moving forward in faith, fear has won—fear has then beaten you and kept you from reaching your full potential.

While we can't guarantee that all our projects and ambitions will end successfully, as we define success, we can be certain that God's plan for our lives will be fulfilled as we trust Him.

Speaking about the future of Jerusalem, Zephaniah 3:5 says, "The LORD is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails."

Don't worry about success or failure. Concentrate on trusting God and obeying Him. Move forward, knowing He never blunders, breaks down, falls, fizzles, flops, flounders, folds, loses out, or disappoints.

So what will you do knowing God never fails? Maybe get out of the boat and get in the shark cage.

Always remember, our mighty God never fails.

<°)))><

By Pat Pennington, San Antonio, TX