Matthew 8:23-27
Keeping God in Sight
“Lord, save us: we perish.” (Verse 25) Other translations are more dramatic, “Lord, save us. We’re going to drown!” Whatever the translation, Jesus’s calm and reassuring, yet stern rebuke, stands firm: “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith.” (Verse 26)
Jesus’s disciples learned something essential about their Master. We can too, for like Christ’s disciples, the more we look to Jesus, the more we trust Him. Our greatest spiritual failing is failing to depend upon Him when life seems out of control. Likewise, another spiritual downfall for us is failing to trust God’s Word, the Bible!
Two weeks ago I shared a message entitled Durable Patience. I’d like to revisit that message, with a greater emphasis patient endurance, according to a number of Bible verses very close to my heart of hearts. Let’s let the Apostle Paul’s writing in Romans 5:2-5 speak for us:
Read Romans 5:2-5
James, Jesus half brother, wrote of keeping God in sight, as he too ran the race of faith. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” (James 1:12) “For ye have need of patience,” Hebrews 10:36 advises, “that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Matthew 10:22 reveals the wealth of that promise, “…but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”
Another instance when the Apostle James kept God in sight is revealed to us from James 1:2-4
Enduring patience yields precious fruit, as Galatians 5:22 and 23, promises. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.”
Notice that the first among the nine fruits of the Spirit is love. “love…beareth all things, believeth all things endureth all things.” (I Corinthians 13:7) Patiently enduring in the face of all and every circumstance, is the Holy Spirit’s grounding that produces true life. Jesus made that clear in Luke 8:15, “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”
Keep God in sight. “Turn your eyes toward Jesus, look full into His wonderful face, and he things of this world will grow strangely dim,” in the words of that beautiful hymn by Helen Howarth Lemmel. Keep God in Sight! Galatians 6:9 encourages, “and let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Never lose hope. Keep God in sight. He’s alive! We are His!
Read Romans 8:24-28
devotionalfriends.com – Depews Chapel United Methodist Church, September 20, 2020
“Link to YouTube Video – Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”
