Believe in the title
John 21 (9) Believe firmly
(John 21:7)
< Believe firmly >
Hearing John's cry, Peter immediately put on his cloak and jumped into the sea. It was John who discovered the Lord first, but it was Peter who acted toward the Lord first. This scene teaches the importance of decision.
Faith is a bold leap toward the Lord. If you only worry, do calculations, and measure yourself, you cannot experience God's grace. To be blessed, you must have a pioneering spirit and a challenging spirit. Dive into the sea of grace by faith. Those who boldly jump into difficult and difficult work experience great grace and receive God's use.
No great man in history was indecisive. Believe it when you believe it. Work hard and take responsibility. Fewer thoughts and more actions. If you live simply, you will gain the ability.
When Alexander conquered Persia, there was a huge skein of thread tied to the side of the city gate and inscribed: “Whoever untie this thread will rule the world.” Many people tried to untie the thread, but all failed. Alexander saw it too. Then, laughing once, he picked up the knife and cut the thread with a single knife.
It should be simple. Once you have chosen a model for the good life, go all in with that model. If you have chosen the Lord, go all-in to the Lord. Zacchaeus went all-in to the Lord. When he climbed up the sycamore tree to see the Lord, Jesus saw Zacchaeus and said, “Zacchaeus! I will stay at your house today.”
Zacchaeus was amazed that the Lord knew his name. “You know my name!” can also mean “I know my anguish and pain, my thirst, my dreams, and my prayer requests!” Zacchaeus was thrilled to receive Jesus and went all-in to Jesus. "Jesus! I will use half of my possessions for relief.”
Although Zacchaeus was short, he was spiritually tall. The ship was large, but the distribution was even greater. His head was big, but his heart was even bigger. As he went all-in to the Lord, a heavenly smile appeared on his face, and he changed from being hated and despised to loved and respected. The hands of exploitation were changed to the hands of service and service, and after that, he would have made many friends and devoted himself to the Lord.
Make a bold decision Be all-in to the Lord Life comes empty-handed and goes empty-handed. What you have is like a mirage. It is wrong to hold onto it and leave too much bank balance until the moment you die. It is good that I spend what I earn in a rewarding way. So, if you add it to missionary work, relief work, and scholarship work, and use it for a good cause, your life will be enriched.
In life, when you need to turn, you can't turn, and when you don't stand when you need to stand, you become unhappy. Break time is needed. Worship time is a spiritual break time. At that time, carefully examine whether your relationship with the Lord is deepening and whether you are living according to God's expectations and mission, and make a new decision to live a life that is pleasing to God. For beautiful and good things, the sooner you decide, the better.
<Be like a child>
In the text, when you hear John say, “It is the Lord!” and see him jumping into the sea, you can feel the purity of Peter. Peter was the eldest of the disciples. At first glance, it may seem like an elder's remorse, but the Lord is pleased with it. Everyone must be a child before the Lord. The Lord said that you must be like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven. A high heart, a legal attitude, and an authoritarian attitude make grace disappear.
Some of them are 'revivalists specializing in church architecture'. If you only build a church and have good facilities, people will flock to it, so naturally, you will be interested in church building. Then, he sells his eyes and tells the story of building the church and decides to donate the building. If you make a lot of decisions at that time, you are a first-class revivalist, and those people have a tight meeting schedule throughout the year. It's not a psychic revival, it's a drug dealer revival.
That's why people don't often gather at the fortress revival meeting. Also, unbelievers feel the stench of the church rather than the scent. Why does it look like that? Because innocence is lost and authority is misunderstood. Because they seek authority in external things like church size, number of members, and luxury cars. True authority does not come from splendid looks and high status, but from a godly life.
Don't measure success by appearance, measure success by "How well do I trust God?" As much as I purely entrusted myself to God, God makes me into a wonderful work of life in the kingdom of God. Because of man's fame, man can move, but God cannot.
If I try to move God, the mountain remains as a mountain, but if I let God move me, the mountain becomes flat and the highway of blessing unfolds. When I boldly go all-in for the Lord like Peter and do not lose my pure faith until the end, God's blessing will not go away from me.