I was reading John chapter 21 today, where Jesus showed Himself to the disciples as they were fishing. They hadn’t caught anything until Jesus instructed them to throw their nets off the right side of the boat. They caught 153 large fish right away and realized it was the Lord standing on shore. When it dawned on them that it was Jesus, Simon Peter jumped into the water and swam ashore. The other disciples brought the boat to shore. 

But Simon Peter jumped in.

I thought about what I would have done if that was me. Honestly, my first instinct would not be to get wet when I could just point my boat to shore. I am kind of embarrassed to say that I thought about my hair and how it would look terrible when I got out of the water. Man…I’m the worst. But that passage caused me to question who and what I am living for. Simon Peter was so eager to see and spend time with Jesus that he went overboard to get to Him faster. That time with Jesus was so precious and so missed by Simon Peter that he wasted no time. How I long for that kind of zeal for the Lord!

A couple of years ago, I started waking up and having 20-30min of prayer time before starting my day. It was probably the best thing I have ever done for my faith life. I have to say, although I do have a consistent time of prayer, I often go in with a bad attitude or a feeling of needing to get this “done” so that I can move on with my day. Ouch. I am clearly not jumping off the boat, eager to greet Jesus. I found myself wondering, That time of prayer is great, but is it sacred to me? Do you desire to spend time with our Lord in prayer? Is He the first person you run to in times of trouble?

Jesus tells us to bring our worries and our fears to Him in prayer. Yet when I am at my lowest, drowning in my pain and my frustration, I don’t always go to Him first. Sometimes I turn to social media or TV as a way to distract myself from my circumstances. In a world that seeks our attention and encourages us to self-medicate, it is important to remember who we are living for. If our answer is God, then social media, movies, and TV shows should not be what we turn to first. Now don’t get me wrong, I love watching TV as a way to wind down and relax. But in the end, I never feel better if I turn to it first in a time of frustration and anger. That’s probably because I didn’t get any closer to healing that wound; I just covered it up with noise. God is ready and able to heal, but we have to be willing to go to Him. We have to be ready to jump out of the boat, get our hair wet, and swim to Him. The next time you find yourself wanting to turn to the world to receive comfort, ask the Lord to draw you closer to Him. Feeding your mind and heart with the truth will help you a lot more than Netflix will. 

In the next couple of weeks, observe how you respond to moments or even seasons of grief and turmoil. Choose to jump out of the boat and get to the Lord as fast as you can. He will always be there.

“Jesus, encourage my heart to be on fire with Your love. Show me how to take the leap of faith and swim towards you in times of distress. Be my solace. Be my hope.”