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A Big Fish in a Small Pond?
A favorite fish of many hobbyist is the Japanese carp, commonly known
as the koi. The fascinating thing about the koi is that if you keep it
in
a small fish bowl, it will only grow to be two or three inches long.
Place the koi in a larger tank or small pond and it will reach six to
10
inches. Put it in a large pond and it may get as long as a foot and a
half. However, when placed in a huge lake where it can really stretch
out, it has the potential to reach sizes up to three feet.
The size of the fish is related to the size of the pond. What about us?
Is our growth determined by the size of our world? Of course, it is not
the circumference of the earth or our physical size that is important,
but our spiritual growth.
Are we allowing our growth to be stunted by the size of the tank we
have placed ourselves in? Some people's world revolves only around their
own
self, what they want, where they want to go and what they know. They
remain a very small fish in a tiny fish bowl.
Others expand their horizons a little bit and their world revolves
around their immediate families and their close friends. They act as if
the
rest of the world does not exist and they live in a small pond.
How do we get into a bigger pond? If we look outside ourselves and
think of the needs of others instead of ourselves, we stretch our horizons
and begin to grow.
The measure of a man is often determined by his concern for others.
How much concern do we have for others?
There are so many fish in God's sea. He knows about each one. At one
point Elijah thought that he was the only one who had not bowed his
knee to Baal. God informed him that there were seven thousand that Elijah
knew nothing about.
God appeared to Peter in a vision to let him know that there were other
fish that God wanted to draw into His Gospel net. Peter thought that
God's pond did not include the Gentiles. When the voice from Heaven
told Peter that what God hath cleansed he was not to call common, Peter's
pond became an ocean.
How small is our pond? Are we reaching out to others beyond our normal
circle of friends and family? Are we sharing our hope with our friends
and neighbors? Our
attitude should be, " Let each of us look out not only for our own
interests, but also for the interests of others"
God is not willing that any should perish, and like Peter, we can help
drag the net to land full of great fishes. The increase is the Lord's,
but we can play our part.
Let us open our minds to the vastness of God's ocean. Let us stretch
our horizon by thinking of the needs of others and forgetting about
ourselves. "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit,
but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself."
Robert J. Lloyd