The Fishbowl Means Freedom

Our pastor used one of my favorite illustrations last Sunday. He was talking about how boundaries and laws set us free, and used a goldfish to explain that seeming contradiction. Suppose you have a goldfish in a fishbowl, and one day you decide that you want to liberate the goldfish from its water and glass prison and free it to experience the real world all around it. You scoop it out of the fishbowl and put it on the kitchen table. You may have "freed" the fish in your mind, but you actually just killed it! This is because the goldfish can only survive and thrive when it is within boundaries that allow it to function the way it was designed: pulling water in through its gills to gather oxygen for its body and using its fins to move around in the water. For the goldfish, total freedom from all restrictions means death.

The same is true of us. When we ignore God's restrictions and boundaries for our lives, we engage in destructive behaviors that often lead to physical death and even more often, spiritual death. Only when we operate within the confines of God's rule will we be able to function as He designed us. God's rules for Godly living set us free to be all that He made us to be.

Doing Penance

It seems so ancient - it conjures up images of ascetics whipping themselves, of pilgrims kneeling and kissing steps. But while physical penance is a thing of the past for most of us here in the 21st century, mental and emotional penance is a very easy trap to fall into.

I know it is for me.

After I commit a sin (especially one of the ones I commit over and over) and the Spirit convicts me, my first feeling is frustration, sadness, and sometimes anger. I quickly ask forgiveness from God. Then I often start doing penance in my mind. If I can only feel bad enough about myself for long enough, my negative feelings about my sin will disappear, and all will be right again. This attitude ruins my day every time.

But there are days - like today - when I really get it. All the penance in the world won't get me feeling right and being right with God. But Jesus performed the ultimate act of penance on the cross in my place, so now, when I receive forgiveness from God for a sin, I am free.

Free to live for Him again. Free to feel close to Him again. Free to experience the lightness of spirit that comes with knowing your sins are take care of.

There doesn't need to be some kind of waiting period, a time where I brush myself off and tidy myself up to be worthy of His affection again. It can begin the moment after I ask for and receive God's grace.

That's a freeing thing!

~Mac