I just went fishing in the turquoise waters of the Florida Keys, and on our boat, we caught the most interesting looking fish. It looked much like a shark, however on the top of it’s head, instead of the trademark fin of a shark that terrifies us all swimming in the water, it had an interesting oval shape. You know those little oval soap holders you put in your shower to help save your soap … yeah, it kind of looked like that.
This fish is called a Remora, and it’s known as the hitchhiker of the sea. The oval shape on top of their head is a massive suction cup. They suction themselves to something else and are carried through the ocean.
Why am I telling you about this unique fish with a massive suction cup on its head? Because God woke me up and told me to. For real. He won’t let me stop thinking about this Remora. But, I couldn’t really understand the significance of this fish until I started digging deeper this morning.
There are 2 groups of Remora. 1 group is the reef variety. The reef Remora will basically stick on anything. They’re not picky. They will attach themselves to sharks, dolphin, turtles, whales, manta rays, boats, and even people. For real, our fishing guide touched his arm to the top of this fish and it was fully attached in an instant. They’re just looking to attach to anything, and they will latch right on.
The 2nd group of Remora are the off shore Remora, and they will only attach to one species. They won’t settle for any little thing, the off shore Remora is looking for something much bigger, and that’s the only thing they will ever attach to.
As soon as I read this, I knew … oh, that’s why God keeps reminding me of this fish and prompting me to tell you about it. Have we settled for attaching to anything, when we were created to attach only to him?
We attach ourselves to a spouse thinking they are the source of our joy. We attach ourselves to our children, claiming they are our fulfillment. We attach ourselves to our jobs, declaring this is our purpose. We attach ourselves to our possessions and hold tightly to all the things we can buy, gather and collect to find our security. And how many of us know it can all fall apart in an instant? We can lose the job, then we lose our worth. That child which brought every ounce of our fulfillment can go prodigal on us and we can be left feeling hopeless and empty. Our marriage can hit a rough patch and we lose all our joy. All we worked so hard to buy soon loses its shine and starts to rust. Then what?
If we’re attached to these things, we go down with it.
But God says, attach to me. You were never designed to attach to anything other than me.
Psalm 16:8, “Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.”
Have we let go of God and attached ourselves to someone else? We find someone we admire, someone who is living a life we would like to live, someone who has their ducks in a manageable row instead of ducks like ours that are having a rave, and we begin to follow them. Crap … have you ever thought about that? Who are we following? The most followed people in the world on Instagram are two footballers named Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, then there’s Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Beyonce, all the Kardashians, and the Rock. Hundreds of millions of people are following them. Following every photo. Every post. Every word. Every move. Every like. Every comment. Every share.
And we’re like the little reef Remora, attached to absolutely anything. We swim where they swim. But, what if they’re not swimming where we need to be, but we’re attached and we’re following? Girl, who are you following and where are they taking you?
It’s time for some of us to detach. You weren’t created to be attached to anything or anyone other than your creator. God is who we stick with. Don’t let go of him!
Proverbs 3: 5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
If I’m trusting in the Lord with all my heart, then I can’t be latched on to anything else. I’m following God with my every thought, my every emotion, my every desire. And when I do this, God shows me the way. When I don’t, I end up attached to the wrong thing swimming in waters I don’t belong in.
Jesus teaches us this lesson in a vineyard. In John 15:5, he says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Have you been trying to do things apart from Jesus? You’ve been trying to make these big decisions on your own, and how’s that working out for you? You’ve been relying on everything other than God to show you the way, and you’ve failed. You fail when you disconnect from the vine. You are a branch of Jesus and you must stay connected to him. Connected, your life is full of good fruit. Disconnected, you struggle and nothing works.
1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”
Money is not evil. But the love of money is. That’s the attachment. When we latch on to money and follow whatever will bring us more money, we are lead into many sorrows. You know why? Because you weren’t created to be attached to anything other than God. But money sucks us in. There’s one thing each of the top followed people on Instagram have … that’s money. We attach ourselves to money. Fame. Beauty. And whatever we’re attached to, we’re following with our whole heart. And sis, if that’s not God, we miss the blessing of God’s divine guidance for our next steps.
You want God’s guidance? Attach to him. Don’t settle for anything or anyone else. He is the source of joy. He is the source of fulfillment. He is the source of purpose and security. Latch on to Jesus and see where he takes your life! Stay connected to him and only him, and everything else has a way of working out.
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