Confessing from the Heart

”And when they climbed into the boat, the wind had died down.

Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying

“Truly, you are the Son of God.”

Matthew 14:32-33 (NIV)

               This passage ends the story of Jesus walking on the water and His rescuing Peter. The other disciples watched what happened.

Tempestuous Peter asked Jesus to tell him “to come to you on the water.” It seems he wasn’t sure that they were seeing the Master standing before them. Jesus invited Peter to come to him. Peter got distracted by the surrounding waves, got scared, and cried out. Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.   

               “When they made it to the boat, the wind died down.” Those who watched the event were humbled, bowed down and worshiped Christ. They were convinced that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.

               In our 21st Century, we have times when we see events happen that only God, through Jesus, can comfort those who are those affected and those near to them. As an exercise, Take a copy of a newspaper and look through it.

               As you do this, make note of the stories that magnify the need for Christ in our world. The front page has big stories—the latest. The back inside page may be the OP-ED page, where the editors give people space to write letters telling what they see in our towns. The editors give their opinions on subjects of civic concern. The local-state page and the nation-world pages always bring us information of what is happening around us and in our land and on the planet.

                              Take a pencil or pen and go through and mark the stories and articles that show a need of Jesus Christ in our world. Then take the time to pray about these circumstances. When you have done this, take the time to meditate on these needs.

               At our former church, we did this at a service in a special series of meetings. The visiting pastor had each of us bring a copy of our newspaper and we took the time to do this during the meeting. It was a very worthwhile exercise.  It was an enlightening experience.