John 21: 1 – 14
I feel sure that all of us have some time in our life that really stands out – when you were married – a child was born – etc. I have a number of dates I will always remember if I keep my sanity, but on the day after Christmas 2004 a monster tsunami hit several countries is South Asia and Africa, thousands died. My, how do we grasp a death toll like this? Many of the people who died in the surging waters of the tsunami did not have to die – if only there had been a warning system in place. I ask you; “What about the multitudes who die each days;
have all of them heard/witnessed the warning? Jesus saves!!!!
The question has been asked by many people many times: “Where Was God In All Of This?” It has been said, “He was in the same place He was when His Son died for all our sins.” I pray the next few minutes will be well spent as we look at a small band of people looking out over a lake, who asked much the same question. They were followers of Jesus, and their hopes that He was the Messiah had been crushed on Good Friday. They were broken hearted – grief stricken, wondering; “What are we going to do?” One spoke up and said: “I go a fishing,”and the others said: “We’ll go with you.” (Jn.21: 3). Where was God in all their concern? Let me hasten to say, “God Has Something Better Planned For Us.”
John described this band of people, and I ask you – “Can you see yourself and others you know among them?” When we face broken and troubling times – not if, I ask you: “Where is Jesus in all of this?” Well, John provides an amazing answer to this question; Jesus is cooking breakfast on the shore (V.9). Go ahead and look now, and you will see Jesus is cooking fish and bread. So, I ask you, where is Jesus at this critical moment in their lives? He was there on the shoreline of their troubled lives – cooking breakfast.
How many of us, through the foggy mist of our problems see Him standing near by with a frying pan in His hand – cooking fish? As we face broken dreams and heartaches, do we ever catch the scent of breakfast cooking along the shore line of OUR lake? It just may be that we don’t take time to look; sort of like the disciples who didn’t recognize Him on the shore (V.4). So, where was Jesus in THIS moment? That is the question we need to ask ourselves each day; and John 21 offers some response to that question.
First off all, John shows us that Jesus is not in yesterday’s experiences, but in today’s reality. Oh, it is so easy to become entangled in the web of yesterday – like the disciples who sat in the boat thinking back over their time with Jesus. We find it easy to talk about our yesterday faith – how I was saved at a Billy Graham crusade – how God answered prayer in just the right time; but when we are asked: Where is Jesus in THIS moment? We often find ourselves fumbling for answers.
According to John, Jesus is not up there, or under there, or over there. Jesus is in the moment cooking breakfast. I am here to tell you that God is not the God of just yesterday's experience, but of today's reality. So there they are, frightened and bewildered people who've run away from the tragedy of Jerusalem. Even as they think back on yesterday's sadness, JESUS is standing there alongside them. It sure is good to know that Jesus is standing on the shoreline of painful situations we face. I ask of you, are you stuck in the experiences of the past? - why not get around to discovering the spirituality of today?
When we discover Jesus in the present realities of our lives, His redeeming love - what He wants to teach us is not how to preach, Jesus wants us to learn how to cook breakfast for others, to step onto the shores of other peoples' lives and be present with them.
YES, YES, "GOD HAS SOMETHING BETTER PLANNED FOR US," and in this very moment in history, there are people you know who yearn for a taste of a love, accept them as they are, forgive them for what they are not and lead them to a higher purpose. Jesus is present wherever his disciples are cooking breakfast along the shores of peoples' lives!
><))):>
In
"HIS"
Service
Bro. Roy