In Luke 5:1-11, we read about a time when Jesus had just finished preaching a sermon from the wooden pulpit of a borrowed boat. Because the crowd was so large, He had taught them from a distance. “He got into one of the boats,” we read, “which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching” (Luke 5:3).
In the book of Mark, chapter six, we read that the disciples got into a boat, at night, and took out across the sea. In their obedience to Jesus, the disciples ran directly into a storm. Their obedience literally took them into the nucleus of a disaster.
Have you ever gotten mail in your mailbox that isn’t addressed to you? You take it out of your mailbox and read that the address doesn’t have your name on it. It just says, “Occupant.” You get that piece of mail by virtue of you being the “occupant” of that home. Trials are a lot like that. Just by virtue of being an “occupant” on this planet in a fallen world, we will face trials.
As Jesus’ disciples, we are to sit under His rule and use it to govern and manage the spheres of influence He’s bestowed on us here on earth. The problem is that many of us don’t mind ascribing rule and authority to Jesus when we agree with Him. We just don’t want to do that when we disagree. We want Jesus to have the final say over the decisions we like or the rules that make us feel comfortable. But that’s not how kings rule. The concept of rulership is not that the king adjusts to the subject. No, the subject must adjust to...
When we speak of Jesus, one of the names we aren’t so quick to call Him by in today’s culture—although it was hugely attributed to Him throughout all Scripture—is King. We recognize Him as Savior. We see that He is the living Lamb. We sing about Him as Immanuel. We tend to portray or visualize Jesus primarily in redemptive roles. And while these roles are key, I am afraid that in focusing so heavily on them, we miss out on much of Jesus’ power in our daily lives. This power shows up in the names we get to know and align oursel...