Do you enjoy fishing? Most of my family can spend hours in the hot sun waiting for a fish to bite. Whether they catch anything or not, they have a good time. If they land enough for dinner, that’s wonderful. They clean and freeze any extra for another day.

I enjoy cooking and eating fish. I don’t usually like to fish. I hate to touch worms or fish. Plus, I identify with the pain of the worms or fish when they’re on a hook.

I also identify with fish another way. Like fish lured to a hook, I’m one of the most gullible people I know. Think about a fish’s actions:

•  It foolishly tries to eat a worm or other bait on a hook.
• When it takes the bait, it swallows the hook, pulls on the line, and makes the sinker go under the water.
• Those actions signal the fisherman that he just caught a fish.
• As a result, rather than eating dinner, the fish becomes someone’s dinner.

I also take the bait easily. In fact, I don’t just swallow the hook. I swallow hook, line, and sinker!

• Tell me an unbelievable story; I usually believe it.
• Try to avoid work by claiming illness or sadness; I sympathize.
• Relate something foolish; I try to find the logic in it.

In most instances, swallowing (believing) such tales gives everyone a good laugh and no one suffers.

In important matters, I need to practice caution. So do we all.

“Keep falsehood and lies far from me” (Proverbs 30:8 NIV).

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