Overcoming

When I read Matthew 14, I was impressed with three instances of overcoming:

In verse 16, Jesus told his disciples, “You give them something.” Then he put enough food in their hands to feed thousands. He always gives us the resources to meet the demands on us. We don’t have to manufacture grace!

Verses 25, 28: “Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake… Peter replied, ‘Tell me to come to you on the water.’” To Jewish thinking in the first century, the sea represented chaos and confusion; it was symbolic of the trials of life. So when Peter saw Jesus walking on the stormy lake, it represented His overcoming of life’s problems. Jesus walks on our problems and tells us to do the same!

Verse 12: “John’s [the Baptist] disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.” My heart was stirred over two things:

1. The devotion and brokenness of John’s followers
2. The fact that they went to tell Jesus. John’s ministry was affirmed in this act. When John “left” his followers, they turned to Jesus. John had come to prepare the way for people to know Jesus (Matthew 11.10, Luke 1.76). He was not the light, but came as a witness to the light (John 1.7). He had said, “He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me” (John 1.15), and “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3.30).

Be like the disciples and give those around you food from the hand of the Master… Be like Peter and – along with Jesus – walk on your problems! Be like John, and point your closest friends and loved ones to Jesus!