Good morning, Christian Peeps,
This morning I want to talk about our focus. Where is it positioned? On God or on the world? On the water? Or on Jesus?
So many times, we get our eyes and our focus off God and begin to look around us at other things. Social Media, Television, etc. and before we know it, we have lost sight of the one who is our joy. We then become depressed, upset, angry and sad. We wonder how we can even function when the world around us is so evil.
Well, the Bible gives us a story that speaks to this: Matthew 14: 22-33
Jesus Walks on the Sea
22 Immediately Jesus [a]made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now [b]in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, [c]“Be of good cheer! [d]It is I; do not be afraid.”
28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw [e]that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
33 Then those who were in the boat [f]came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
Has there been a time when you knew that Jesus was the answer? When you knew that if you would just keep your eyes on Him and not get distracted that you could experience joy and happiness? But it's hard when the distractions come. It's hard when we choose to scroll on social media or watch television, then to read our Bibles, or pray. I'm not here to judge anyone, I have been guilty myself. But it's like having a headache and knowing that if we take that ibuprofen, our headache will go away, but instead, we keep going, hoping it will just go away on its own. It's the same with living for Jesus, we know what to do to be closer to Him, we know that if we focus on Him, instead of the things of this world, we can be happier, our lives can be full of joy; but instead, we take our eyes off of Him and become infected by the world.
Today, my hope and prayer for us all is that we will stay focused and, in those moments, when we get our eyes off Jesus, that we will quickly call out to Him like Peter did and He will bring our focus back to Him.
Jesus is our hope, not the world, Jesus.
Be Blessed!
