Jesus will change you
As we learn about Jesus, he will change us. The New Testament is full of short stories about the life, ministry, and miracles of Jesus. Some are as short as four to five verses and what we can learn from those short verses can be life changing.
For example:
As I read in Matthew 8:23-27, I thought about Jesus and his disciples when they “entered into a ship” and “there arose a great tempest.” When I read the scriptures, I try and do three things: read and understand the different viewpoints (here the viewpoint of the disciples and the other of Jesus); ask myself, “What can I learn from this?”; and, how can I apply this story to my own life?
Let’s think about these three points.
In the viewpoints of the disciples and
Jesus, this must have been some storm! It was described as the waves being so big that they covered the ship and Jesus’ disciples were afraid for their lives. Many of them were fishermen, so for them to be afraid, that must have been a crazy storm. But amid the storm and the huge waves, Jesus “was asleep.” When they awakened him, he turned to them and asked, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Jesus had no reason to fear. Jesus knew that he had the power and authority over the elements of the earth. He was calm in his knowledge, faith, and understanding of the situation. Then Jesus “arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was great calm.”
What can we learn from this? We need not fear, even in the scariest of storms. Instead, we just need to turn to Jesus. It wasn’t until his disciples turned to him that there was peace and calm.
I also realized a very important lesson: Many times, we can find ourselves in the same or similar situation as someone else. This story shows us how differently people can choose to respond to their circumstances. We can respond with fear, worry and doubt, or we can turn our problems, challenges and even storms over to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He reminds us in Matthew 11: 28-30 to come unto him with all our problems, challenges, etc. and learn of him and we will find rest. He will carry us through. This is a great mental health lesson. We choose how to respond to our circumstances. As we learn of him and learn to lean on him, our problems become light and together we can get through them.
We can apply this to our everyday life. We can choose to respond as Jesus would in whatever circumstance. And even though we may not be able to “speak to the Seas and they obey us,” we can choose to confront our fears, challenges and worries with Jesus and turn our problems over to him to solve. As we do this, our burden becomes light. We must still put in the effort to solve our problems, but now we are turning to him and listening to promptings and solutions as he guides us through these difficult times.
All the disciples needed to do was to turn to Jesus. As with his disciples, so must we turn to Jesus. Through him all things are possible. Nothing is too big. We have challenges in life to remind us to turn to him and have faith that he will deliver us
This account is also a great reminder that just because we choose to follow him, it doesn’t mean life will be easy. The disciples chose to follow him and found themselves in the middle of a tumultuous sea. Why? Because they too needed to increase their faith and turn to him in their time of need.
We need to turn to him daily, with the big things and the small things. He will calm the seas and show us the way, if we ask.
What challenge are you struggling with today? Loneliness, addiction, job loss? Take it to the Lord with a desire to overcome your challenge and he will give you strength and help your faith increase. All we need is a mustard seed of faith for it to begin to work within us.
Keith Wills is president of The Reading Pennsylvania Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and directs the spiritual leadership of 12 congregations throughout eastern Pennsylvania. President Wills can be contacted at wills. keith@yahoo.com. For more information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please visit www.comeuntochrist.org