I Chose you!

"The rabbi thinks we can be like Him."

-R.B. "Velvet Elvis"
















"If you are a disciple, you have committed your entire life to being like your rabbi. If you see your rabbi walk on water, what do you immediately want to do? Walk on water. So this disciple gets out on the water and he starts to sink, so he yells, "Jesus save me!" And Jesus says, "You of little faith, why do you doubt?" Who does Peter lose faith in? Not Jesus, He's doing fine. Peter loses faith in himself. Peter loses faith that he can do what the rabbi is doing. But if the rabbi calls you to be his disciple, then He believes you can actually be like Him... He even says to them at one point, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you." - Rob Bell, from his book, "Velvet Elvis"

This passage really spoke to my heart about the way I view myself in Christ. Sometimes the hardest part of identifying one's self with Christ is believing it is possible to be like Him - to know that beyond a doubt we are capable of anything through Christ. Rob goes on to say about the disciples, "It isn't their failure that's the problem; it's their greatness. They don't realize what they are capable of." ...Wow! To think that the more of our lives we submit to Christ the more trust we build, not only in Christ, but in ourselves because of Christ! Maybe you're like me, and you get caught up in staring at the waves of failures in your life. You believe in Christ, you've seen His power in your life, you know what He is capable of- you know His goodness you know His grace, you just sometimes forget what you're capable of as His chosen disciple! I don't ever want to forget that I am capable of catastrophe, but may I never lose sight of the One who died to claim me as an overcomer!

"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world- our faith." (1 john 5:3&4) ... I added the emphasis.