Lenten Devotional. Day 20. Thursday, March 27, 2014 Matt Varnell Simon vs. Peter Scripture: Matthew 14: 25-31- 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. Its a ghost, they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: Take courage! It is I. Dont be afraid. 28 Lord, if its you, Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water. 29 Come, he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me! 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little faith, he said, why did you doubt? Devotion: As a youth, I never understood the difference between Simon and Peter.....Oh, who am I kidding? I didnt understand it until 2 years ago. I taught a lesson series on the 12 disciples and a light bulb finally turned on. I finally realized that when Jesus refers to Simon, he is referring to the man, to earthly things. When Jesus refers to Peter he is referring to the spiritual side of the man. Simon had a house and a boat. Peter was a follower of Christ. This simple realization changed so much about the way that I read the scriptures. Duality is a part of who we are. As human beings, we are jealous, angry, and we fail spiritually. It is part of our humanity to be flawed and incomplete. Our spiritual connection to our God and our journey to be as Christ-like as possible is one that we Christians choose to undertake. We cannot abandon our humanity. What we can do is work to improve our spiritual connectedness to our God. Even Peter, the spiritual leader who was in the presence of Christ, ran to Jesus on the water. When he (Peter) turned from his spiritual focus and realized his humanity, he (Simon) fell. As long as his focus was on his faith in Jesus Christ, anything was possible. When he lost that focus, suddenly things didnt seem possible. For me, Lent is a season to deal with my own duality. It is a season to consciously focus on my spiritual connection to God and not to be distracted by my humanity. I will never be perfect, nor is that my goal, but I do believe that the more time I focus on my relationship with God, the less my human nature gets in the way.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:53:01 +0000
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