Growing in Our Walk with Christ

On May 23rd, 2022 my son Corban had his last day of kindergarten. He hopped out of the truck, with backpack in tow, and walked through the front doors like it was no big deal. What a difference it was from his first day of kindergarten. He wanted me to hold his hand and walk him all the way into his classroom on the first day of school. Over the course of the school year, he grew up and learned the ropes. He didn’t need his hand held anymore. He could do it by himself.

Growth is an important part of life. God wants us to grow as well. There are parts of our spiritual walk where we need our hand held at first. We need someone to walk us through, calm our fears, or make sure we are doing it right. That is not where we are called to stay though. We are to mature and grow in the faith. We are to learn how to walk without fear or worry. How have you been growing in your spiritual walk? What differences have been made in your life in the last year? Look at what Paul tells us in Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV),

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

We are to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ in way that puts our roots deeper into the soil, lays a firmer foundation in the faith, and reaches new heights of spiritual maturity. We also to abound in thankfulness through every part of the journey. None of us are finished yet. We all still have some growing to do. Just make sure you are not staying in the same place, becoming stagnant and stale. Instead, stay on the move for the Lord like a fresh flowing stream and grow up into all that Christ has for you. In time you will no longer need your hand held, rather you will be the one walking beside those who are young in the faith.

Jesus and Peter Walking on Water

27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” -Matthew 14:27-30

The glory is God’s power to save and not that Peter walked on the water. Peter was not putting Jesus to the test, instead, he was the only one in the boat to react in faith. His impulsive request led him to experience a rather unusual demonstration of God’s power. Peter started to sink because he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the high waves around him. His faith wavered when he realized what he was doing.

We may not walk on water, but we do walk through tough situations. If we focus on the waves of difficult circumstances around us without looking to Jesus for help, we too may sink. To maintain your faith when situations are difficult, keep your eyes on Jesus’ power rather than your inadequacies. We all face trials and problems. Many times, our focus is on the problems, and we don’t focus on Jesus. We worry and get scared about what to do. Peter did too, but he called out, “Lord, save me!” God’s power through the Holy Spirit is the only thing that can really help.

When we have a relationship with Jesus and are following Him, we aren’t judged by the amount of faith we have, but by whom our faith is in. We aren’t likely to see anyone walk on water, but we probably have witnessed many people do amazing things when they were focused on Christ. I am sure we all have witnessed things in our own lives that God saved us from, certain situations and that He saved our soul. That is as amazing as walking on water. Nothing else matters more than God saving us.

Has Jesus ever asked you to step out of your boat and into a potentially scary situation? What happened? As you look ahead to the rest of your day, what situations do you foresee that might pull your attention away from Jesus?

Lord, I believe anything is possible with You. Help me fix my mind on You alone. Work through me today in a way that brings You all the glory. Amen.

Be Still & Know

There is a phenomenon that takes place when a person is in motion. You may have noticed this before; the faster you are moving the more that your field of vision narrows. When stationary we have a 180° horizontal visual field and a 130° vertical visual field, but as you increase in speed your eyes instinctively narrow to what is in front of you. This is a point of focus in many driver’s education classes because many accidents can be avoided with better visual awareness. For example, when you are driving about 60 mph, your horizontal visual field is only 40° (20° to the left and right of our line of sight). That’s a significant reduction. At 60 mph your peripheral field of vision is almost 4 times less than when you are stationary.

Here’s the point I want to make. The faster you go, the less perspective you have. That’s true of when we are driving, but I think that it is also true of life in general. When we rush through life, we lose our perspective. When we are stressed, hurried, and feel the pressures of daily demands, it is easy to lose sight of what is truly important. Some of us have lost our perspective because we are simply going too fast. Sometimes we just need to slow down. God reminds us in Psalm 46:10,

Be still, and know that I am God.

God desires for each of us to have times where we take a break and slow down. God wants us to slow down because it’s good for our souls and it gives God an opportunity to remind us of the way things really are. See if you can be still, it just might instill, that He’s still God. It’s in the stillness we can remind ourselves that God is still in charge and He’s still good. God is still good even when today doesn’t feel good.

As Christians, we do not just live for today. We live for tomorrow. We live with eternity in perspective. For those who follow Jesus, today’s problems are never greater than tomorrow’s joys. It doesn’t matter how tough today is, God can always do something better tomorrow. This is what it means to have hope. If we are rushing through life, we lose sight of that. Remember your circumstances are not greater than your creator. It's easy to get caught in the pressures and demands of today, but sometimes we just need to slow down and broaden our perspective.  If you have lost that perspective, take time to be still. Get away from everything else and remember that He is still God.

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

But first and most importantly seek His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you also. -Matthew 6:33

Simply put this verse reminds us to “Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing”, and the main thing in life is a relationship with God.

We must know what the most important thing in our lives is and keep our priorities in line.  In our society today a huge emphasis is put on commerce and material things, but we must remember that things are not most important to God.  He wants us to have and enjoy the nice things He gives us, but He also wants first place in our lives.  We are taught to seek the kingdom of God and His way of acting and doing before we seek anything else.

When we seek something, we think about it often. We talk about it. We are even willing to pay a price to have it.  Some people even fall into the trap of seeking God so He will give them the things they want.  Obviously, those motives are wrong.  We must form the habit of seeking God’s face and not merely His hand.  We need to seek Him for who He is and not what He can do for us.

God is pleased when we want to spend time with Him just because we love Him.  He is also pleased when we praise and worship Him because of who He is.  Would we not all think that God enjoys a celebration for His “being” and not just His “doing”?  We all want friends who are interested in who we are, and not just what we can do for them. God calls us His friend through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We should act like a true friend.

When we put God first, keep Him there, and seek to do things His way, we are showing that we delight in Him.  Then, according to Psalm 37:4, He gives us the desires of our hearts.