Many think being a Christian means doing good. But Christianity means following Jesus and being in Him. Being in Jesus promises freedom from our curses, sins, and sickness. It does not mean you are free from all your problems and you will not have any problems.
But it is like Peter walking on water with Jesus. After feeding bread and fish to the five thousand, Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side. But when the boat was in the middle of the sea, the wind was against the boat, so the boat was being tossed by the winds. In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them walking on the sea. After seeing that it was Jesus, Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come on the water”. So Jesus said, “Come”. And when Peter had come out of the boat, he walked on the water on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out saying, “Lord, save me”. And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him.
I want to stress that Peter walking on water is like a Christian life. The wind was against the boat, so it was causing tremendous waves. That is the number of problems you face in life when you are a Christian. You see that the world is against you. But just like Peter, you will be walking on water if your eyes, your faith, is fixed on Jesus. Even if you are surrounded by all kinds of problems, you will not be drowned.
But if you are worried about the problems you will face in life, you will sink into that problem. Peter saw clearly that the wind was against the boat but still chose to walk on the water. Now when he is on the water, he does not have a boat to protect him. And he is on his feet now. Maybe before becoming a Christian you have many things that protect you from the wind and waves. But now you are standing on your feet on the problem. It is your faith in Jesus that keeps you standing on the water. It feels like you are more than the conquerors of the world when you lead a Christian life because of your faith. It is not everyone’s cup of tea to go through the problems you are going through, because it takes faith.
But if you focus on your problem, if you focus on the wind that is against you and not remind yourself that Jesus is with you on the water you will sink and will be drowned. When Peter was beginning to sink and cried for help, none of his friends came to save him. Some of them were fishermen and knew swimming. It is not that they wanted Peter to die. Still, the only hand that came to help him was Jesus. People with you do love you, care for you but only the hand of God can pull you out of certain situations.
It is not easy to accept that Christian life is full of problems. You may ask then why is Jesus the Saviour when we are full of problems, especially when we are Christians. Corinthians 9:25 says, everyone who competes in the games goes through strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. This shows that we are in training and training is not easy. It is hard for all who do it. We, Christians, are trained spiritually through the problems of our life so that we become like Jesus. The Holy Spirit teaches us many things in our training and we become better and shinier as we pass through each of our problems.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 2 Corinthians 1 says that the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our tribulation, we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves were comforted by God.
When Peter was walking on the water, waves must have hit him because it was not a calm sea. When we walk in faith our problems hurt us, and we cry in pain to our Father. He comforts us and it is so soothing that your wounds heal. With the comfort that we get from the Father midst all that trouble, we are able to comfort others who are in trouble. That’s how we become partakers of the Gospel. Because God wants us to be light of the world. God bless you. Amen.
Frankincense 