What Glenn Writes

I know you have seen them: the harmless little creatures swimming around the dozens of bowls at the summer festivals. The little children are entertained by the way they dart back and forth in their little spheres of glass. They dodge the ping-pong ball when it bounces just before settling in to select the one to be transferred to a sandwich baggie. Yet for our children, the sandwich baggie might as well be called a fish hearse.

We have purchased the goldfish bowls and the starter kits. We have cleaned, re-cleaned, filtered, and re-filtered. We bought new food, new bottom gravel, and bubble pumps. The result: belly-up by the next day.

Such is the life for a Goldfish Killer. Some people kill houseplants, some their lawns, but for me, I choose to stick with live festival prizes.

The deaths come easier each year. My children are finally used to the idea the fish will die. My loving and supportive wife has coached them to know the fish are already sick. This helps them… not me, though. I know better.

Yes, I am the Goldfish Killer.

There are probably tales in the goldfish communities and I am notoriously referred to as the Festival Slasher, Son of Mrs. Paul, or Tuna the Ripper. The goldfish may go to little horror movies portraying a tiny guppy in the shower and me poking through the curtain with a ping-pong ball. When they swim around in their little schools, there are educational teachings on how to avoid me: the Goldfish Killer.

We have the original James Bond film called Goldfinger, and now a spoof called Goldenfish. Could Ian Flounder bring this to life? The star, James Bass, a secret agent for the royal jellyfish, will be dressed to the gills as he attempts to track down the Goldfish Killer.  Would shadows of angelfish swim across the opening credits?  Would he have a license to fish or just a fishing license? 

I know this is getting kind of fishy.

Sure I can make light of my goldfish curse, for in truth, these festival fish are most likely as my wife has portrayed them to our children: already sick. The fish disease “Ich” (also known as Ick or Ichtyopthirius) is common with goldfish. Yet this brings to mind the curse against all of us too many take just as lightly.

Romans 5:14 refers to this curse with, “Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam…” Here we are reminded death is a curse over the descendants of Adam, who sinned through disobedience. The Lord told Adam in Genesis 3:19, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Eternal life was Adam’s before his defiance from God, and eternal life was taken from Adam as it was taken from each of us. Fortunately, Paul goes on to state in Romans 5:18-19, “…just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one Man the many will be made righteous.”

As Adam brought the curse of death against the entire human race, one Man has provided an answer and a way to eternal life. He paid the price for our sin and disobedience. Paul finishes the fifth chapter of Romans with, “…just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

By Adam’s act of selfishness, we were brought into a curse. By Jesus’ act of unselfishness, we were brought into a blessing, a gift provided by God. Yet we must make the deliberate decision to accept this gift or we remain with the curse. When we consider the curse lightly, the gift of eternal life holds little value.

After all, we have plenty of time to accept this gift, right? 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 warns us, “…the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly…”  Would God provide this warning if we had plenty of time before our deaths to accept God’s gift?

How important is eternal life?  Ask a goldfish.

If you haven’t found the eternal life written about above and would like to know more about it, shoot me an email.  Do you know someone who might enjoy this blog or one of my eStories or Books? Please share this blog or my website with them. Thanks!

Glenn Sasscer
www.glennsasscer.com
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