Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Henry Ford
The Waves
For a time, the Apostle Peter, walked on water! He did okay (Matt 14:29) until he started looking at the waves and not looking at Jesus so “when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me” (Matt 14:30) and then “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him” (Matt 14:31). Don’t be too hard on Peter. I think I’d have done the same thing but what if Peter had kept his eyes on Jesus?
The Miracle
When Jesus looked at the massive crowd, who had grown hungry by now, he asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat [but] He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do” (John 6:5-6) so “Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little” (John 6:7). All they had were five loaves and two fish, yet Jesus fed thousands. The obstacle of a massive crowd of hungry people was nothing to Jesus so they looked to Jesus for the answer. We need to do the same thing in our lives when we meet overwhelming circumstances but have limited resources.
The Prize
Imagine you’re running in a race and there are people that are near the finish line cheering you on. Wouldn’t that help? In the same we, we are running in a race and stretching out for the prize just as Paul wrote, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14) and the one thing Paul did was to be “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (Phil 3:13). Focus on Jesus because He’s at the finish line of the race we call life.
Conclusion
Henry Ford didn’t let a few obstacles keep him from achieving his goal with the automobile; instead he saw obstacles as frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. He didn’t look at the waves of worry and he didn’t look at the limited resources, because he had his eye on the goal and one of the greatest success stories of all time was the result.
