I am so thankful for the patience of our Lord and Savior. I am so thankful that God is good and that He is perfect and suffers long with us. Aren't you?
Sometimes I struggle with what God wants me to do vs. what I think He wants me to do. During these times, I ask, "Lord, is this what You want me to do? Are you sure? It doesn't make sense. And here's why I don't think it's a good idea." Then I remember Jesus' words in Luke 6:46, "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?"
I'm grateful Jesus didn't leave me without an example to follow and with no light to cast away the shadow of my doubts. I'm glad He showed me the Scripture below:
In this passage, the disciples questioned Jesus' decision, not because they didn't love or believe in Jesus, but they questioned him because they loved Him with fallible, human love, a friendship love (philia) and were trying to honor Him by "protecting" Him by what they thought was best. They forgot that Jesus loves us with agape love and expects us to love Him and others the same way. Jesus was more concerned for them, rather than Himself, and focused on obeying God rather than protecting Himself. I am still in awe of the fact that Jesus' goal and purpose for being here on earth was to give His life and suffer for our sakes...so like Lazarus, though we die, that we may truly live.
Faith is not believing Jesus, trusting Him and obeying Him when everything He says makes perfect sense to our finite minds. Instead, faith is believing Jesus, trusting Him and obeying Him simply because He is Who He says He Is...God, our Savior. Faith isn't saying, "Okay Jesus, I'll step out on this shaky ground and trust You will make it solid and stable for me to walk on." No, instead faith is saying, "Okay Jesus, I'll step out on thin air, the impossible, what I cannot see, or understand just because You say so. If I fall, or if I am victorious, I trust You emphatically and trust the outcome is always for Your greatest good and my benefit."
Peter did this in Matthew 14:28-29, and so did Shadrach (Hananiah), Meshach (Mishael) and Abednego (Azariah) in Daniel 3:16-18.
Obviously, trusting Jesus didn't make sense to Peter, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, but because they kept in mind WHO He is rather than what or who people make Him out to be, they could do the impossible; walk on water, enter a fiery furnace and survive without even the smell of fire on them. WOW!!!
Let us commit today, that we will follow Jesus and do what He says, just because HE says so, and simply because we are abandoned to Him because He is who He says He is, not someone we want Him to be.
Sometimes I struggle with what God wants me to do vs. what I think He wants me to do. During these times, I ask, "Lord, is this what You want me to do? Are you sure? It doesn't make sense. And here's why I don't think it's a good idea." Then I remember Jesus' words in Luke 6:46, "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?"
I'm grateful Jesus didn't leave me without an example to follow and with no light to cast away the shadow of my doubts. I'm glad He showed me the Scripture below:
In this passage, the disciples questioned Jesus' decision, not because they didn't love or believe in Jesus, but they questioned him because they loved Him with fallible, human love, a friendship love (philia) and were trying to honor Him by "protecting" Him by what they thought was best. They forgot that Jesus loves us with agape love and expects us to love Him and others the same way. Jesus was more concerned for them, rather than Himself, and focused on obeying God rather than protecting Himself. I am still in awe of the fact that Jesus' goal and purpose for being here on earth was to give His life and suffer for our sakes...so like Lazarus, though we die, that we may truly live.
Faith is not believing Jesus, trusting Him and obeying Him when everything He says makes perfect sense to our finite minds. Instead, faith is believing Jesus, trusting Him and obeying Him simply because He is Who He says He Is...God, our Savior. Faith isn't saying, "Okay Jesus, I'll step out on this shaky ground and trust You will make it solid and stable for me to walk on." No, instead faith is saying, "Okay Jesus, I'll step out on thin air, the impossible, what I cannot see, or understand just because You say so. If I fall, or if I am victorious, I trust You emphatically and trust the outcome is always for Your greatest good and my benefit."
Peter did this in Matthew 14:28-29, and so did Shadrach (Hananiah), Meshach (Mishael) and Abednego (Azariah) in Daniel 3:16-18.
Obviously, trusting Jesus didn't make sense to Peter, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, but because they kept in mind WHO He is rather than what or who people make Him out to be, they could do the impossible; walk on water, enter a fiery furnace and survive without even the smell of fire on them. WOW!!!
Let us commit today, that we will follow Jesus and do what He says, just because HE says so, and simply because we are abandoned to Him because He is who He says He is, not someone we want Him to be.
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