There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action
about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic.
Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature,
not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the
natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the
development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives
a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling
of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to
vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is
disastrous in a man or woman—an impulsive adult is always a spoiled
person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through
discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God.
Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking
on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether
different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed
Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54).
We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises—human nature and
pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently.
But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four
hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an
ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is
ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do
not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy
on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned
in five minutes.
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