Which One Are You?

I have been thinking about Peter walking on the water and Elijah in the cave, hiding from Jezebel, and it occurs to me that they are both basically the same story. Let me explain:

In Matthew chapter 14, the ship was being tossed by the waves, and Jesus came unto the disciples, walking on the sea. Peter asked Jesus to summon him, Jesus did, and Peter stepped out of the boat, but when he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink. In 1 Kings chapter 19, Elijah had been threatened by Jezebel, who was the Queen. He went and hid himself in a cave. God showed up, but as God was trying to talk to Elijah, there was a strong wind, and an earthquake, and a fire; but Elijah heard God, and they took care of their business. In both stories, each man had something that he needed to do; each man was trying to get closer to God. In Elijah's case, everything in the world tried to distract Elijah, so that he wouldn't be able to hear God's voice, but Elijah refused to be deterred, and listened carefully to God. Peter, on the other hand, only had to deal with a storm, but he let the storm distract him, and he took his eyes off of Jesus, and would have drowned, if Jesus hadn't saved him. The real difference between the two stories is that one man was attentive to God, and didn't let the world drown out God; the other man tried to be attentive, but let the world drag him down.

In our lives, we deal with all kinds of distractions all the time. We have televisions in our living rooms that deliver a constant stream of anything and everything (don't misunderstand me--I have a TV in my living room, too), people around us don't live like they should (do you really think that they will live better than you do? And if you think that they're living worse than you are, you might need to examine yourself a little closer), there's violence in the streets, corruption in our government, draughts, and floods... You don't have to look for distractions, they are all around. Some of them pose very real concerns, but, are you letting them stand between you and the prize? Sometimes the world will just grind you down, but God is not in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, or the neighbor who plays his stereo too loud, or even the religious leader whose despicably behavior you have become aware of.

God didn't create us to be perfect. The easy explanation is that if we were perfect, we wouldn't need God--I think that there is more to it than that, but, for now, that's reason enough. God did give us free will. We can choose to do right, or we can choose not to. He allows us to choose. Doing the right thing means so much more if you do it for the right reason, as opposed to not having any choice in the matter. Yes, that's means that sometimes innocent people get hurt. If you're one of those people, then I am very sorry. I honestly don't know what that feels like--I'm much too old to remember ever being innocent. God does know how that feels, though. God robed Himself in flesh and dwelt among us, and, being condemned by the religious leaders of the day, was turned over to the government. He was tortured and killed by the people that should have recognized Him as a complete innocent. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. We, being His creation, turned on Him. I wonder what that feels like. I hope I never find out.