I must say - the trip to the Eastern Shore certainly did not disappoint. As you may recall from last week's insight, I mentioned that my three lofty goals were to catch a cobia, catch a gator trout and catch a bull redfish. On the first day of the trip, we were blessed with sunny skies and a smooth Bay. We spotted seven cobia and the captain managed to cast to and hook one, then promptly handed me the rod to fight and land the 42" brute. On day two, some of us fished the skinny water on the bayside, and around midday, I hooked and landed a gator speckled trout, which was a mere three ounces away from a citation. Day three wound up being the slowest day of fishing, but I did manage to catch a couple of nice redfish on light tackle towards the end of the day. And to top off the trip, the owner of the lodge allowed us to stay an extra evening, which offered us an opportunity to spend one more day on the Shore. On day four, we tried a different bayside creek, and almost immediately started catching nice redfish on light tackle which averaged around 5 pounds and 22 inches. After trying a few other spots in the creek, we went back to the first spot we fished, and continued to catch the hard-fighting reds. The three of us probably landed 25 of them in a half day's fishing, a memorable ending to an incredible trip.
Romans 3:23 (NASB
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Personally, I do not recall a time previous to last week were I fished with as much confidence and had as much success as a result. It just seemed as though everything went just right with every cast. Nevertheless, with as much success as I had during those four days, and as many redfish as were caught, I did not hook and land a bull red. Though it was a near perfect trip, I ultimately fell a bit short of my extremely lofty goals.
As is human nature, we often fall into the trap of rating our lives based on the good and bad that we have done. Some conclude that as long as their good outweighs their bad during their time on Earth, then God will reward them when it is their time to stand before Him. I would have to admit that there are some folks around that likely do a lot more 'right' and 'good' than some Christians I know. Nevertheless, we must remember that we are not the judge of what is 'good enough'. The Bible states that all humans have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. In other words, no one can achieve the supreme glory of God through their strivings and their perceived goodness. It goes on to say that the wages of our sins is death (Romans 6:23). That means that regardless of how much good we have done in life, we will never be seen as enough' in God's eyes based on our own merit. And because we don't meet His standard of goodness, we face death. Thank God that His plan called for a substitute to make up for our shortcomings. Romans Chapter 6 goes on to tell us that it is the free grace of God, through faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that makes us perfect.
So I ask you - are you basing your eternal security on the 'good' that you have done, or rather what Jesus did for you on the cross? Know that you can never do enough on your own to negate your need for Christ. - GE
Video and select pictures from the trip can be viewed on the Scope & Hook Facebook page (facebook.com/scopeandhook)
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