And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Mark 4:38-41
When we read this story of Jesus and his disciples sailing in the midst of a stormy sea, it’s important to note a few things. For starters, only his disciples were in this ship with him. These were supposed to be the men who had the greatest faith in Christ, and followed him wholeheartedly. Yet when they were frightened, they accused Christ of not caring about them.
Aren’t we just like this sometimes? We have faith to jump into the ship of life along with Christ. We may claim our “badge of Christianity”, then push Christ to the back of our ship. Perhaps he becomes an afterthought in our lives until we have a problem. We then cry out in a panic and can’t believe he allowed trouble to come into our lives. Then once he helps us with our problems (as we should have known he would), we are astonished. Why?
If we have faith to get in the ship with Jesus, we must have faith to endure the seas.
4 things I observed about these followers of Christ:
1. They lacked faith. Even after seeing him in action and hearing him speak and promise great things. Even after leaving behind careers and families to walk with Him…
2. They had fear. When we fear things in life, it clouds our view of who God really is. “And he said unto them, where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, what manner of man is this!” Luke 8:25
3. They failed to praise. Once he calmed the seas, they simply questioned among themselves about what kind of man he was that the wind and seas would obey him. They should have been singing. Rejoicing. Preparing a feast! Anxious to get to shore so they could tell others what Christ had done for them.
4. They had followers. Go back to our text in Mark 4. Look at verse 36. When his disciples got in the ship with Jesus, there were also with them other little ships. Full of everyday people who wanted to go along just to be close to Jesus. They had made up their minds they were going to follow him no matter what. These little ships went through the same storm as the big ship carrying Jesus and the disciples. I wonder how they fared? I wonder what their faith was like? We never read about them again.
We have others following us. Whether you realize it or not, you are an example to others. For good or for bad. You may be the only picture of Christianity some people ever see. How do you react to the storms of life? Keep God in the front of your ship at all times. Don’t just leave him in the back until you need to call on him again.
