31 Days :: Day 6 - Peter Vision or Tunnel Vision?

This Morning:

Read back through your battle verse for this week: Philippians 4:8. Have it memorized yet?
Journal about what your thought patterns are this morning.
Pray. Ask God to help you have an eternal perspective instead of a temporal one. Commit to being open to whatever He has for you today.

Devotion: Peter Vision or Tunnel Vision?

Do you relate with Peter? I sure do. For several reasons. Let’s see…

Matthew 14:28 – Peter asked Jesus to tell him to “come to Him on the water” if it was really Him (doubt);
Matthew 14:30 – When Jesus told him to come, he started out walking straight, then remembered he was human… he felt the wind… and lost his focus (lack of follow-through);
John 18:10 – He cut the guy’s ear off (impulsivity);
Matthew 26:35 – Peter promised Jesus that he would not deny Him (pride comes before a…);
Matthew 26:69-65 – He proceeded to deny Him (fall);
John 21:1-14 – He gave up and went fishing (avoidance);
John 21:20-21 – After being forgiven, Peter asked Jesus what the other guy was going to get (jealousy, entitlement).

So.. do you relate? Before really thinking through this, I never realized just how similar Peter and I are. In my humanity, I am skeptical, impulsive, prideful, a hider, jealous, entitled… oh and I possess an extreme lack of follow-through.

The thought focus here is that we need to have tunnel vision toward Jesus. When the wind and waves come, we need to have an eternal perspective. Instead of looking down at the circumstances and the things in this world, we need to keep our minds focused on the end goal.

Read this from 2 Corinthians 4:4-18:

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

What if Peter just believed it was Jesus…. because He said so?
What if he was patient with the high priest… accepting that what Jesus told him was SUPPOSED to happen?
What if he didn’t deny Jesus?
What if he didn’t go into hiding?
What if Peter had just kept his focus on Jesus?

So here we are. Recognizing that we need to have tunnel vision. No peripheries allowed. Only the Jesus who is standing in front of us asking us to stay focused… on Him.

To Make You Think:

How’s your tunnel vision? Full of the stuff in the periphery or focused on Jesus?
In what areas do you relate with Peter?
How important are the things and concerns of this world to you?

The Rest of the Day:

Purposefully set your vision on Jesus for the rest of the day. Recognize ANY thought or circumstance that takes you off course. Journal about it tonight.
Before you go to sleep, ask God to strengthen your tunnel vision. To release you of your Peter vision… and to gain an eternal perspective. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

See you tomorrow!

Continuing on… 31 Days :: Day 7 – For Whose Glory?