Fear, Trust, Hope, Love, Faith, continued

Scripture:

Matthew 14:25-30 (ESV)

And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”

Devotional:

Fear, trust, hope, love, faith are all things in our lives.

In the previous Daily Devotional, we discussed faith.  The tremendous amount of faith it must have taken to walk upon water.  Today I want to mention trust.  Is it easy for you to trust?  Take a moment and ask yourself who you trust and why.  What was it that earned your trust in them?  How long did it take to trust them? 

Now think about the one you can always trust.  Do you truly trust Jesus?  How much do you trust him?  We place faith in trust in friends and family.  We place trust in the auto makers.  We trust that the cars we buy will work and keep us safe, well as safe as possible.  Yet, each one of them will fail us at some point.  In fact, let’s face it even you and I will fail someone who trusts us.  Jesus will never fail.  If we step out of the boat and onto the water, you better not trust me to keep you on top of the water…  I may hold you up for a time, from within the boat.  But even I will eventually drop you.  Then down you go… Instead when you step out of the boat you can trust Jesus.  He will never drop you.  He is out on the water walking.  If your focus is truly on Him, you too can be walking on top of the water. 

It all goes back to focus.  If you focus on the wrong things you will eventually sink.  With the wrong focus we will struggle.  Maybe not today or even tomorrow but eventually struggles and hardships will come.  In fact, they will come even with our focus on Jesus.  What’s the difference?  We can trust Jesus and place our faith in Him to see us through it.  We can get through it and even be better for it.  Jesus is faithful and trustworthy.  With Him we too can walk on water.  Do you trust Him?