Food in the Fridge

I hate when I am looking for something and it ends up being right in front of my eyes and yet I still couldn’t find it, but it ends up taking someone else to point it out to me. I think this happens to me most when I open up the fridge and I am looking for something. It could be the mayonnaise or leftovers, but it is always something that is clearly marked and I end up searching the whole refrigerator and I still have no luck. Discouraged I let out a sigh and tell my mother that what I was thought was in the fridge isn’t in there. Well, wouldn’t you know, she goes over, spends 5 seconds in the fridge and points to it. Usually, it wasn’t in the back of the fridge hiding, It was in my face, but I was just too blind to see it. I wonder why I didn’t see it, but I really don’t have the answer, but I vow to look harder next time before I make a fool out of myself. Although I may try I end up making a fool out of myself.

I feel that this is what we all do on a daily basis. We are blind to the love of Jesus, just like the Apostles were. In Mark 6, the apostles are in a boat and are getting tossed around by the waves. Jesus is on land and starts to walk on water and the apostles see him and think he is a ghost. Verse 50 - 52 says, “They had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them, ‘Take courage, it is I, do no be afraid.’ He got into the boat and the wind died down, the were (completely) astounded. They had not understood the incident of the loaves. On the contrary, their hearts were hardened.”

Verse 52 is a very important line in these three verses. I try to put myself in the Apostles shoes. They are following Jesus for a reason. They may not know why, they dropped their whole lives to follow a prophet. They are seeing many miracles that they, nor anyone can explain. I am sure it is a very confusing time for them. They also have no idea what the future hold. They may know that Jesus is the Messiah, but they have no idea that he will give his own life so that they and the rest of the world may live. So, when the Gospel says, “Their hearts were hardened” I can at least see why they hearts aren’t totally open to the workings of Jesus in their own lives.

I can look at my life and clearly see where and when my heart is hardened to God and I really don’t have to guess that you as well feel the same way. My brothers and sisters, why are our hearts hardened to God? Unlike the Apostles we know what Christ did for us. We don’t have to struggle with seeing the importance of each miracle that Christ does or with each word that he speaks. We can clearly see the end result of it all. Christ died for us, but the victory lies in him rising and I know we all know that.

I love the song by Matt Redman, This is How We Know, in the song it says that the way we know what love is, is by Jesus dying on the cross. If we are to truly love in this life. Not to just love the people and things around us, but to love the people that are not loved or the people we barely like, we need to look to Christ for the strength to endure.

I believe our hearts are hardened because we like the apostles, are afraid. We are afraid of leaving our hearts open to the will of Christ. When we are trying to live out a life of love, we won’t usually get what we want, we may be hurt, torn down, and persecuted, we may be poor in the physical sense, but the one thing that we will have through all of it is total and absolute Joy. The Joy that only can come from God.
Let us examine ourselves today and look at who we are and who we wish to become and what will it take to become that person. The best words to leave you with, are Christ’s, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.”