Fish on Land

What happens when you take a fish out of water and leave it on the land? It is tormented by the lack of water because it needs water to live. If it remains apart from the water indefinitely, it dies.

It was made for water, and without water it will die.

A fish is a finite being. It lives and it dies.

You, on the other hand, have a soul.

Your soul will live forever—either with God or without Him.

But you were made for God. You were made to be with Him. You were made to live in Him. Without Him, you will die.

God doesn’t damn people to hell.

Hell is what’s left over after God and all His goodness recede like the tide.

You only stay there if you hate to be with Him.

What happens to a fish who hates the water? What if the fish said to the water, “You’re not real,” or “You’re not good,” or “I hate you,” or “I never want to be with you again”? What if the water, when it receded, granted the fish’s wishes and allowed the fish to remain upon the land after the water washed away? What would happen to that fish?

It would suffer endlessly until it died.

If you reject God, you will suffer, too—not because God wants you to, but because every good thing you’ve ever tasted is just Him surrounding you just like the water surrounded the fish. But if you really don’t want to be with Him, He’ll let you stay up on the shore. If you really never want to see Him again, He’ll give you what you ask Him for.

But you aren’t a finite being. You don’t live and die and then it’s done. Your soul lives on forever. That’s why the suffering in hell is eternal. Your soul was made to be in God, but if you tell God to pull away, if you tell Him you don’t want Him, when He withdraws there will be nothing left worth having. All the life and light and love go with Him. When the tidewaters recede you’ll be left with nothing but any empty, gasping heart.

Don’t push God away. You were made to be alive in Him.