James 1:12-16: Fishing and Phishing

Author John Ortberg wrote in “The Me I Want to Be” the time he and his wife went fly fishing for the first time.’

Ortberg said the guides told us that “to catch a fish you have to think like a fish.” They said that to a fish life is about the maximum gratification of appetite at the minimum expenditure of energy. To a fish, life is “see a fly, want a fly, eat a fly.”

“A rainbow trout never really reflects on where his life is headed. A girl carp rarely says to a boy carp, I don’t feel you’re as committed to our relationship as I am. I wonder, do you love me for me or just for my body? The fish are just a collection of appetites. A fish is a stomach, a mouth, and a pair of eyes.”

“While we were on the water,” Ortberg observed, “I was struck by how dumb the fish are. Hey, swallow this. It’s not the real thing; it’s just a lure. You’ll think it will feed you, but it won’t. It’ll trap you. If you were to look closely, fish, you would see the hook. You’d know once you were hooked that it’s just a matter of time before the enemy reels you in.”

“You’d think fish would wise up and notice the hook or see the line. You’d think fish would look around at all their fish friends who go for a lure and fly off into space and never return. But they don’t. It is ironic. We say fish swim together in a school, but they never learn.”

“Aren’t you glad we’re smarter?”

But, are we?

For instance, there is another kind of fishing called “Phishing,” a word for a type of online scamming. I recently read an FBI report of 300,000 complaints and over 50 million dollars in Phishing losses that occurred in 2022.

If you have an online presence, you’ve been subject to Phishing. You get a bogus email or text message disguised as a legitimate source. It may claim to be your bank, credit card company, a government agency, or even pretending to be a friend. Of course, the sender is angling for personal information to steal, resulting either in identify thief, stolen passwords, or robbing your bank account or personal property. As a result we are constantly warned to be on guard and aware of Phishing scams that reel us in and leave us broken hearted, and maybe even broke.

Now, click here and read James 1:12-16.

The Devil has been Phishing before it ever became “a thing” and a coined word. He baits you with a desire for something or someone that is forbidden by the Lord and Scripture. It begins with the lure of a lurid link to click, or a provocative, pretty woman, or a supposedly “innocent” text message of someone who just wants to be your friend.

Since the devil is the master of deception and the “father of lies,” we are promised something that is untrue, inaccurate and ultimately unfulfilling. But the bait is alluring, captivating, and charming. It promises what it cannot deliver.

However, as the bait dangles in our inbox, or iPhone, or computer screen we are soon “drawn away and enticed.” Through thought, attitude, action, or even by an illicit relationship we realize we’ve been hooked. But now it’s difficult is get free. Temptation has snared another victim. And death, spiritual death, ensues.

James’ exhortation is simple and straight forward, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”

However, unlike the fish or the online Phishing scams, with God’s help you can get unhooked. There is help and here is hope. There are resources available. There is a way to escape. To stop. To change. To begin again. God offers pardon. Redemption. And forgiveness. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).

The Devil’s Phishing exploits don’t have to win. We can overcome. Break free. And be victorious.

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman