Stay Freshنموونە

Fish Guts Are Gross

You know what’s fresh? A mountain spring. A fragrant breeze. Bread, straight out of the oven. A thankful attitude. All of these are wonderful to have around you. 

You know what’s not fresh? Pollution. Stinky basements. Moldy crusts. Complaining and arguing. Gross and no thanks! You definitely don’t want to have to hang around any of these things.

This Bible Plan is all about staying fresh. Not really with soap and water, but more like staying fresh in your mind and spirit. Soap can’t help there. But following God’s plan for you can! 

The Bible tells a story about a man named Jonah. He got himself into a disgustingly unfresh situation: He was swallowed whole by a giant fish. Have you ever seen or smelled fish guts before? Can you even imagine being trapped inside them? Disgusting! 

Watch this video for a glimpse inside the situation.

Oh man. Disgusting doesn’t even come close to how awful that whole situation must’ve been for Jonah. When you read his story in today’s Bible reading, it can be easy to say, “What a loser! Running from God? If I were Jonah, I would’ve just obeyed God and gone to Nineveh already.” 

But if you’re honest, you’ll realize people disobey God every day in many ways—even in things that probably should be really easy to obey. Do you ever say hurtful words? Think unhealthy thoughts? Act in a way you never thought you would? Yup. For sure you have. Everyone has. Sin pollutes our lives. It pulls us away from where God asks us to be. It makes us feel rotten like fish guts and long for something better. 

The next time you find yourself in the middle of a terrible attitude or about to do something you shouldn’t, think of fish guts. Be thankful God gave you such a strong image of how sin traps you, and choose the fresh life of following after God’s path instead! 

Ask yourself: What are some things I do that are actually disobeying God? Examples: Unhealthy thoughts, words, or actions. 

Challenge yourself: Grab a paper and something to draw with. Fill the page with the outline of a whale. Inside it, draw or write your answers to the “Ask yourself” question above. Remind yourself that those things are like fish guts! 

Pray: God, thank You for showing me such a clear picture of what doing the opposite of what You ask me to do looks and feels like. It’s not good! Help me to follow Your path for me every day of my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.