“How do you
know my goldfish is dead?” my sister, who was five years younger, asked me.
“Because he
is floating belly-up.” I explained.
“Maybe he is
swimming upside down.”
“No, see he
is all stiff and pale colored.” I showed her as I held the fish in my hand.
“The other goldfish have nice color, swim around and are not floating upside
down. This one doesn’t move. See the difference?”
She
eventually understood, but was not happy with the news. She began to understand
that there was a difference between the living and the dead.
Sometimes I
would see a fish struggling to stay upright. I would stop swimming and start to
flip upside down. Then it would suddenly right itself and swim again. This must
be exhausting because eventually the fish would give up and let death take it.
Faith that
is unproductive is belly-up. It is not showing any signs of life. The point of
this verse is to notice the signs of dying faith and set out to get right with
God. My faith does not have to die. God can revitalize it.
“For as the body without the spirit
is dead, so faith without works is dead.” James 2:26.
© copyright
2016 Kevin T Boekhoff
https://tugsandnudges.wordpress.com/2016/02/16/belly-up/
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