I have always loved fishing, and in recent years I started to fly fish. Fly fishing takes patience. The flies are small, and the tippet (fishing line) can be very thin and hard to see. There are a lot of knots to master: Davy’s Knot, Double Surgeon’s Knot, Uni Knot, Nail Knot, Blood Knot, No-Slip Loop Knot, and my go-to knot, the Improved Cinch Knot.
On a recent outing I caught a few small bass and then hooked onto something much larger, and it ripped my bottom fly off. I am not sure if the fish was so large that it ripped my line (the fish that I don’t see are always monsters in my imagination), but I am pretty sure that I should have checked my knot. As flies and tippet drag over rocks, and they can get nicked, damaged, and weakened. I tied a new fly on and made sure the new knot was strong. I moved to some faster current in the river and caught a beautiful stream bred brown trout. I missed a few other trout that got off before I could get them in the net, and then I hooked another monster only to have both my flies and tippet rip off the tippet ring. I should have checked my knot; it was the last place where a tippet normally fails.
Being diligent and checking that my knots are strong, secure, and not damaged made me think of the church. As we mature in our faith, we come to love the Truth of the Word of God. The authority of the Word is at the foundation of why the Covenant Brethren Church was started. Reading our Bibles everyday and staying in the Word is a necessary step in our discipleship. The song that we sang as children “Read your Bible-Pray every day” is one of the most important messages we need as adults.
The reality of living a life of faith in a fallen, sinful world requires us to be diligent in measuring what we hear against the truth of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit helps us in this struggle.
2 Peter 2: 1-3 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them-bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
God was clear that we will have false teachers that will try and bring truth into disrepute. It is not a matter of if but when. We have set up our bylaws and the Executive Board to be able to deal with false teaching as it arrives, but we all need to be obedient and diligent.
I plan to keep checking my knots to put a few more fish in my net. There is so much more at stake in our church.
Jim Nolt – Executive Board Member
