One Day; Three Lessons

I'm definitely not a morning person, but God's an all-day guy :) I woke up to Psalm 143:8 (on Facebook haha). I love his "good morning" greetings. He's awesome. Like I said, God's an all-day sorta guy, so I learned not one ... not two ... but three things today :) and all I did (for once) was stay at home!

Lesson #1: Directly after breakfast, while enjoying my coffee, I had an epiphamy, word for word:

"When you're selfish, nothing is enough. When you're not, everything is too much."

Let's marinate that thought and put it in our little fying pan we call a brain, shall we? ;) As far as I know, that quote is original! When that thought popped up into my head, I realized how very true that quote is.

Lesson #2: John 6:16-21. "Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. But He said to them, 'It is I; do not be afraid.' So they were willing to recieve Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going."

Today, I saw this in a new light. When we try to do things on our own, it doesn't normally work out. A lot of times, we get impatient, so we set off without Him, fingers crossed, hoping everything works out for the best. But then, a storm arises -- a spiritual storm -- that knocks us down and beats us up until spiritually, physically, and/or mentally, we just can't handle it anymore. We're ready to give up, when Jesus walks into the scene of trial in our life; sometimes, it's hard to accept Him after all that's happened. But He says, "It is I; do not be afraid." But He only comes when we're "willing to recieve Him." To break it down ... The price of setting off in a boat: $10. The price of losing boat pieces and buying new parts: $40. The price of counseling from seeing Jesus walk on water: $60. The rewards of Christ in our lives: priceless. When we accept Him, not only is there a calm in the storm, but eventually, that storm will end.

Lesson #3: Genesis 3:1. In this verse, the serpent asks Eve, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Look at the serpent's word choice: "Did God really say ... " Interesting, isn't it? This verse specifies that the serpent is crafty enough to place doubt in our minds. Doubt is one of the first steps to unbelief. But as Benjamin Franklin said, "When in doubt, don't." Jesus constantly says, "you of little faith" to people. Even Matthew's account mentions after Peter doubts Jesus, "You of little faith [...] why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14:31) If we have faith that was even as small as a mustard seed, we could tell a tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea," and it will obey us (Luke 17:6). If only we had faith ...
Jesus is the most faithful person that ever walked -- or will walk -- this earth. Don't doubt. Instead, depend (on Him).