What would you say to a fellow believer who tried their absolute hardest at some deed for Christ that no one else would volunteer for, but fell flat on their face in failure? I would be willing to bet the ranch that your words would most likely be encouraging, comforting and uplifting. After all, that is the Christian thing to do, right? If you know me very well, you have already figured out that this is a trap and that you’d better not answer.
During His final ministry tour in Galilee, Jesus fed about 15,000 (5,000 men) men, women and children, probably reaching the peak of His popularity. He then inexplicably “dismissed” the crowd that was calling Him “the prophet”, promised in Dt. 18:15. He did have His reason; the crowd wanted to force Jesus into being their King. After all, who wouldn’t want a King who would feed you and take care of you.
Jesus then retreated by Himself to pray and sent the disciples on a mission to take the boat back to the other side. Fighting a storm, they found themselves exactly in the middle, about 3.5 miles from either shore, at about 4-5am. That is when Jesus totally freaked them out by walking out to them. Terrified they assumed it to be a ghost, but Jesus reassured them, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” (Mt 14:24-33; Mk 6:47-52; Jn 6:16-21)
In an act of faith, which had never occurred in human history and to this very day has never been repeated, Peter said, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus said, “Come.” And then Peter stepped out of the boat and WALKED ON WATER TOWARD JESUS. There are only 2 members of that club and Jesus is the other one.
But then Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and looked at the storm’s winds and grew afraid and sank. That is when Jesus, the Lord of every real-deal Christian, the author of the Christian faith, proved that He was not what most believers advertise Him to be.
There were no comforting words for Peter about how hard he had tried; no encouraging words about how proud Jesus was of Peter’s effort; no tender words about how much He loved him. NONE of those words. And they are the only words that most professing Christians would deem appropriate. In fact, failure to extend those encouraging, comforting, tender words to a fellow believer who did what no believer had ever done, would to many be sacrilege. WOOPS! Maybe not.
Because Jesus replied, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” No encouragement. No comfort. No tenderness.
Anytime we wouldn’t do what Jesus did, WE ARE WRONG! Anytime someone does what Jesus did and we think they are wrong, then WE ARE WRONG!
So what was Jesus really like? Jesus is portrayed by almost all professing Christians, sadly by almost all preachers too, as the 24-7-365 man of love and tenderness and kindness. Well, that’s baloney.
Does Jesus love us? YES! Does Jesus have words of tenderness when that’s what we need? YES! Does Jesus extend kindness to us when that is what we need? YES!
But the fly in the ointment is that we want love, encouragement, kindness, and tenderness ALL OF THE TIME! We don’t ever want words of confrontation, rebuke, condemnation, discipline, or disappointment, much less from JESUS. Well, fellow believers, JESUS WON’T PLAY THAT GAME! Not with you; not with me; not with anyone. Know why? Because He loves us to much to only encourage and comfort us. He loves us so much that He will give us the spanking that we need, when we need it; not the one that we want, but the one we need. God bless.
Mike “Pawdad” Sublett, Pastor @ Hi-Land Christian Church, Pampa, Texas 79065, 630-730-8015
