I Choose Today to focus on my destiny

I just love Simon Peter. Peter was the most bold, outspoken, and enthusiastic of all the disciples. He was the first to put himself out there for God; to take a stand, to be bold in how he felt, to be a leader among his peers.

But even Peter lost his courage when he took his focus off God, as illustrated in Matthew 14:30-31,  “But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

I surmise that Jesus was teaching Peter, the other disciples, and you and me that in order to achieve anything for Christ, we need to keep our focus squarely on Him. Jesus knew what was in store for Peter and He was preparing him for his destiny. Jesus knew Peter would need to be bold, take a stand, and be courageous in his destiny: spreading the Good News of Jesus. Therefore, Jesus was preparing and reminding Peter where his strength, courage, boldness came from, so he could reach the destination (his destiny) for which God had for him.

Just like when driving and see an accident on the other side of the road, or we see the beautiful sites along the countryside, we look and our car goes where we look. We swerve out of our lane, our path, and can cause an accident, get ourselves and/or someone else hurt in the process. When we take our focus off God, we begin to doubt God’s plan for our lives. We become terrified by all the “what-ifs,” the obstacles, the current circumstances and begin to become overwhelmed. This causes indecision, confusion, and fear, all the while we are sinking.

When we keep our focus on where we are going, on our path, we can navigate to our goal, our destination, our destiny. So when we find ourselves sinking under the heaviness of doubt and fear, let us take Peter’s example and cry out to God to bring us back into focus.