I was teaching Sunday morning and using Peter walking on water as an illustration of leaving the dependencies of our own life and stepping out into God's grace. For some reason I said Jesus was Oh, lets say ten feet away. Not sure where that came from because the Bible doesn't say, but I guess they were close enough to hear each other. For me, it would have been pretty close because Jesus would have almost been in the boat before I decided to shout out and ask Him if I could do what I knew I needed to do. You know that knot you get in your stomach right before you take that plunge into obedience? That would be me. I also think I would have waited until He was close enough that someone could through me a line or something if I sank. How many times do we do this in life? We hedge our obedience and try to bring Jesus just a little closer to our comfort zone. I'm telling you, that ten feet makes all the difference in the world. Will I hesitate or be relentless? The longer I wait, the more I loose. What an opportunity He gives us to be filled with His grace that sustains us. We let those opportunities diminish based on our own perceptions of what is possible while Jesus waits patiently for us to jump into all that He perceives as possible for our lives.
I was teaching Sunday morning and using Peter walking on water as an illustration of leaving the dependencies of our own life and stepping out into God's grace. For some reason I said Jesus was Oh, lets say ten feet away. Not sure where that came from because the Bible doesn't say, but I guess they were close enough to hear each other. For me, it would have been pretty close because Jesus would have almost been in the boat before I decided to shout out and ask Him if I could do what I knew I needed to do. You know that knot you get in your stomach right before you take that plunge into obedience? That would be me. I also think I would have waited until He was close enough that someone could through me a line or something if I sank. How many times do we do this in life? We hedge our obedience and try to bring Jesus just a little closer to our comfort zone. I'm telling you, that ten feet makes all the difference in the world. Will I hesitate or be relentless? The longer I wait, the more I loose. What an opportunity He gives us to be filled with His grace that sustains us. We let those opportunities diminish based on our own perceptions of what is possible while Jesus waits patiently for us to jump into all that He perceives as possible for our lives.