When I was on a boat last weekend I saw a fish washed up on shore, flopping around and gasping for breath. It was the strangest thing, it seemed as if he could have flopped back into the water, but instead he went away from the water and towards a Chipotle burrito that someone leftover from a picnic. There are two reasons why this fish didn’t survive. First, fish were made to be in the water. In the water fish have the freedom to move around, eat, and breath, but when separated they can do nothing. Second, the fish reached for a burrito which, although it is the tastiest thing on the planet, could not give him life. He needed to be in the water before enjoying that tortilla filled with Mexican goodness.

What was the point of that story? Well, we are that fish. Ever since Adam sinned we have been kicked out of Eden, separated from our God and source of life. And in this fallen world there are a lot of things that promise to give us life and hope. Promise to satisfy us. For example, I looked for satisfaction in football and lost every game my senior year. I’ve put my hope in dating relationships and none of those relationships lasted. I’ve been disappointed in food from expensive restaurants. I tried finding identity in being handsome and got staph infection on my face. I tried to please people and make everybody happy, but still made people upset. A flood once ruined my neighborhood. Money and jobs can be lost at the drop of a hat, and family members and friends will pass away someday. Everything in this world that we look to for our identity and satisfaction can and will fail us because we are trying to make them do what only God can. God spoke through Jeremiah saying, “My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13). Jesus says in John’s Gospel, “Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again– ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life” (John 4:14). Only Jesus can satisfy our souls. It is only through Jesus that we can find an identity that can never be taken away: sons and daughters of God.

To clarify, I am not saying sports, relationships, and possessions are bad things. Much to the contrary, they are good gifts that should be enjoyed within God’s boundaries. Paul tells Timothy, “For everything created by God is good, and nothing should be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, since it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim 4:4-5). However, there is a big difference between enjoying God’s gifts and turning the gifts into gods. Again, Paul says, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever” (Romans 1:25). The temptation to put our hope in something or someone that is not God is ever before us, but like the fish may we strive to drink from the fountain of living water and enjoy the Chipotle burrito beneath the waterfall of Christ’s love and grace.