Marlin (who is actually a clown fish) is a very protective father but his son Nemo craves adventure. When Nemo takes a silly, disobedient risk, he gets lost and ends up in an aquarium. So, naturally, Marlin sets off on a long and involved journey to find his son.
Along the way, Marlin meets many of the sea's colorful characters, including a very helpful, very forgetful and very blue fish named Dory. From the first second she hears that Marlin's son, Nemo, is missing, Dory is determined to help.
Dory has a problem with her short term memory. She forgets things almost instantly but she keeps moving forward on their mission to find Nemo. Every time Marlin and Dory face a setback on their trip, Dory stays upbeat. She forgets what just happened and keeps going. She tells Marlin, "You know what you gotta' do when life gets you down? Just keep swimming."
The Bible tells us that we Christians need to be a lot like Dory!
God used a man named Paul to write the letter to the Philippians. First Paul reminds them- and us- that we can't be friends with God and get to Heaven someday by being good. We can't accomplish enough things, or be nice enough, charitable enough or good-looking enough to get to Heaven. Only faith in Jesus and the fact that He died to take our punishment for sin and rose from the dead to prove His power, can save us from Hell and give us Heaven. But it is our job after we have become friends with God through Jesus, to try to be like Him. Not because being good enough could get us to Heaven- we could never be good enough for that- but because knowing Jesus and living the way He wants us to is amazing!Philippians 3:13-14 says "No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven."
In other words: Just Keep Swimming! When you accept Jesus as your Savior, you admit that you are not good enough and God washes all of your guilt away. He chooses to forget it and so can you. Now, you need to focus on just being like Him, telling others about Him and just all around enjoying the new life He's given you. You need to be excited about someday joining Him in Heaven where you will finally be perfect.
God wants us to let go of shame and pride. We Christians often get bogged down by focusing on these things. If you dwell on all the good things you do and how "awesome" you are, cut it out! Jesus already took care of being truly awesome and you could not ever possibly compare to Him. And if you dwell on your mistakes and how "terrible" you are, knock it off! Jesus already took care of forgiving all of your sins and He's makes up for the new ones every day. We need to "forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead"- Jesus! We should just enjoy being with Him and look forward to living with Him in Heaven someday.
We need to be like Dory the forgetful fish and JUST KEEP SWIMMING!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment