“Wake Up, Jesus!”
By Holly Mackle, Guest Writer
Today’s Treasure
Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey him?
Matthew 8:26-27
In Matthew 8, an exhausted Jesus climbs into a boat with his disciples and immediately falls asleep. The disciples are expecting a calm trip—they are used to this sea, they fish it all the time—but they get anything but calm. An unexpected monster of a storm tosses the boat in such a way that the disciples fear for their lives . . . and Jesus sleeps on.
I can only imagine what the disciples are thinking: “Seriously?” “Doesn’t he care about us?” “Has he let us follow him all this way just to die in some freak storm?” If I had been there, there would have been no two ways about it: I would have been just plain mad. Why? Because I had trusted someone enough to leave everyone and everything I knew and to follow him. I had given him control over me but he wasn’t doing what I wanted him to do with that power. Protect me. Care for me in the way I think I need. Do what I want. Actually, let me be the one in control.
If you are a follower of Jesus, you are a surrendered one. You have given over control of your life to the Savior. The problem for many believers (including myself), is that it’s easy to give over control of one’s eternity. Sure I can trust Jesus with something I can’t even fathom, but the here and now? The day-to-day discipline and sleep schedule and quality time with my husband? No thanks, Jesus. I’ve got this one on my own, and therein lies the deception of control. Christ wants to be a part of our comings and goings, our day ins and day outs. He cares about the play-dates, the baby blues, the rough patches with your own mother; he cares about the calm and the storms.
I love the disciples’ reaction, “What sort of man is this?” Translation: he’s not like me. And that I get, and I want to get at a deeper level every day of my walk with the Lord. We are not the same, he and I. He is God, and I am not. I can act as if I’m in control, but I’m not. He is responsible not just for my eternity, but for my day to days. And should he see fit, he will look at a storm cross-eyed and make it into the calmest and starriest night I’ve ever seen.
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
Name one specific area you deceive yourself by thinking you have control.
What would it look like to truly surrender that area to Christ’s control?
Lord, let me not be deceived. You are God, and I am not. Please help me surrender each part of my day to you, and help me to raise a child who sees a surrendered mommy that delights in your plan for her life.
Reprinted with permission: Engaging Motherhood, Heart Preparation for a Holy Calling Week 3, Control (CDM, 2016)
Sharon W. Betters is author of Treasures of Encouragement, Treasures in Darkness and co-author of Treasures of Faith. She is Director of Resource Development and co-founder of MARKINC.org, a non profit organization that offers help and hope to hurting people. Sharon enjoys quality time with her husband, children, fourteen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
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Contact Sharon with comments or questions at dailytreasure@markinc.org.