Today's Word Is Flounder

 

Good day! And Happy New Year! I’m Duane Matz and this is Today’s Living Word:

 

My word today is flounder. Flounder of course is a species of fish, but the word “flounder” can also describe a fish out of water. If you’ve ever fished from a boat, you likely have seen a fish brought on board flopping around on the deck trying to get back in the water.

Maybe that describes your spiritual journey these days. At the start of this new year, you find yourself wondering, “What is my purpose?”

 

As I was doing my morning devotions, I came across a quote that reminded me of this oft faced dilemma in our lives. The quote was from the German theologian Helmut Thielicke who said, “For of one thing I was always sure, that when a man seeks himself, he fails to find himself, and that he gains and realizes himself only when he loses his life in God.” 

 

This quote is a rephrasing of what Jesus tells us in  Lu 17:33 "Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

As I look at social media, I see many people screaming for attention and if you read between the lines, many are simply posting their ever-changing, self-perceived purpose in life, and quite frankly, many times, it’s a far cry from what God intended it to be.

 

Does this describe you? Do you feel like you are floundering like a fish out of water? Then come to Jesus! He invites you to come to Him! And you know what? He has plans for you!

 

First of all He desires to save you! Not because you are basically a good person. We are not good people! That’s why He tells us in  Eph 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

And why does He save us? Next verse:

 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

 

My friend, that’s an invitation to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior and to get back in the water!

 

Once there, follow the advice of the Psalmist in  Ps 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

The word “delight” means to be pliable! Pliability speaks of clay in the hands of a potter. God is the Potter, we are the clay. As we surrender our lives to Him, He will mold us and shape us into what He created us to be.

 

Those desires in your heart? No need to chase after them, (many tomes they come from our flesh, and that’s never a good idea) rather submit to Him and let him bring them forth, after all He put those desires there in the first place.

This year, today, stop your floundering and start submitting to the Potter, and be all that He created you to be.

I’m Duane Matz and that’s Today’s Living Word