When Jesus saw that a curious crowd was growing by the minute, he told his disciples to get him out of there to the other side of the lake. As they left, a religious scholar asked if he could go along. ‘I’ll go with you, wherever,’’ he said. Mathew 8:18-19.
This man was a scholar, he was a professor, I bet he saw all that Jesus has been doing and thought to himself “why not, I would want to follow Jesus”, but Jesus had to inform him ahead of time that its not going to be a rosy moment, we really don’t have a place to spend the night, Jesus asked him ,”Are you ready?”
Another follower said to Jesus, “Master, excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have my father’s funeral to take care of”, Jesus refused, “First things first. Your business is life, not death. Follow me. Pursue life.
I believe what this verse basically means is we are ambassadors of Christ, a representation of the work of Christ. We have business with Life and not death. I also understand from this verse that we are not allowed to wallow or drown ourselves so much in the death of our loved ones or anybody. Its okay to mourn, to cry, to bury but do not stay there because we have work to do. We are on a mission; we have a mandate from Jesus to go into the world and preach the gospel baptizing every man in the name of Jesus.
God has entrusted us with a calling as His children to reach out to people that are alive not dead. We have a call to answer as soldiers of Christ. Our spiritual responsibility should be made priority before other duties.
Peace under pressure- Mathew 8:23-27
Jesus got into the boat, his disciples with him. The next thing they knew they were in a severe storm. Waves were crashing into the boat, and he was sound asleep! They roused him, pleading, “Master we are crashing please save us”…
Jesus reprimanded them. “Why are you such cowards, such faint-hearts?” Then he stood up and told the wind to be silent, the sea to quiet down: “Silence!” The sea became smooth as glass.
The men rubbed their eyes, astonished. “What’s going on here? Wind and sea stand up and take notice at his command!”
Sometimes I try to use my imagination to paint a picture or make a short movie in my head on Jesus and his disciples. This is absolutely mind blowing. See guys you do not want to be in the same boat with me when there is a storm, if you are not scared, I will make you scared…😊. I can totally relate with the disciples on how they behaved towards Jesus. They were scared, anxious, terrified but Jesus was sleeping! This man was unbothered, cared less, like how at the middle of a storm?? The bible records that his disciples went to wake him up and He said” O men of little faith, and He rose and rebuked the sea and there was great calm.
Question for the timeline- Did the disciples have little faith in the fact that they were not going to survive the storm? or did they have little faith in the fact that a saviour was in the same boat with them, yet they did not trust Him?
Remember they had just started their work with God, so they had not fully grasped the entirety of who was with them in the boat. The bible says Jesus rebuked the sea and wind and there was great calm, And the disciples marvelled saying “What manner of man is this that even the wind and sea obeyed him”. Now they had realized that not only does He heal, not only do demons obey Him, even the winds and sea obey Him.
The fact that there was a storm is not the issue. Jesus was not concerned about the storm; he was more concerned with the way they responded to the storm. Even if they had not woken Jesus up, do you think anything would have happened to them with Jesus in the boat? Lol… personally, I do not think so.
How do you respond to challenges? Do you respond in fear, or you respond in faith? Jesus never said that there wont be challenges, he never said there wont be storms or tribulations. In fact, He mentioned in John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”. But be of good cheer that’s the response that Jesus wants for us. To be of good cheer means to be relaxed, to calm down, to rest on our pillows, to have peace because He has overcome the world.
How do you respond in faith? You respond in faith by the word of God. You take God’s word and speak to that situation. Jesus rebuked the sea and wind and there was great calm. That was an impulse response from Jesus! The bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, what are you made up of… are you made up of fear or the word of God? Y’all I am getting blessed with this and I know you are.
I want us to open our heart and minds and be determined to see God in every situation. Recognise that He is present with you and will never leave you ashamed.
Culled by Eseosa