Model of the "Jesus Boat"
This is the link for Matthew Chapter 14, and verses 29 to 31.
“Come,” He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Put yourself in this location, first literally, and then figuratively.
What storms are swirling around you? What are you avoiding because you are afraid you might drown? What is your safe haven, the boat you are afraid to step out of? Is Jesus asking you to come, despite your trepidation, and are you resisting Him?
Are doubt and lack of Faith stopping you from tackling something you need to confront in order to fulfill the desires God has for you?
My last two posts have been about feeling out of control and helpless in the face of the world.
I am afraid of drowning in the world. I am reluctant to face that reality. I doubt I can walk in the world and maintain who I want to be. I don’t want to step out of my boat, my safe harbor, in order to confront the world and assume my place in it.
But Jesus is saying to me, “Come.” He wants me to set aside my doubt, to embrace Faith, and to trust that He will guide me through the storm of the world to a place where I can be productive and happy.
If I will believe, anything is possible.
Often I feel that the world is my greatest impediment, always working against me, and insurmountable.
In truth, it is doubt and lack of Faith that hold me back.
Jesus, right now, is reaching out to me to keep me from drowning. With His help, I can walk on water.
I can face anything, conquer anything, and become who He wants me to be.
Reach out, take His hand, and walk together . . . whether on water or on land or, like Francis, even into the camp of the Sultan (a.k.a. the world). He won’t let you sink as long as you’re looking into His eyes!
In this post as well as your Matthew 12 and “Let Me Out”, there seems to be a real tension between trying to live a Godly life amid the strains and distractions of the world. I came across the following from a speech by the great preacher Archbishop Fulton Sheen in 1970, very late in his life:
“The crisis today is that the Church is making contact with the world. The Church went out into the world, and the world came to the Church. What we are feeling today is the impact of the world which produces two extremes: the psychotics who insist the Church shall not be related to the world, and the neurotics who contend that we should be so related to the world as to forget the Church”.
“It is hard for us who are striving to keep a balance to remind them that our Blessed Lord wants both. The first word of our Lord’s public life was, “Come”. “Come to me; learn of me. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”. The last word of our Lord’s public life was “Go”. “Go into the world”. Our trouble today is we have too many “gos” and too few “comes”. Even some of the religious communities which 20 years ago were saying, “I am holier than thou” are now proclaiming “I am worldlier than thou”. Both are wrong.