NCarolinian

"The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." (Acts 11:26) A descriptive word that shorten the title of disciple/follower of Christ  to Christian - person who is Christ-like. What does it mean to strive to be Christ-like? The majority of Christ's life was filled with acts of compassion. God is love ( 1 John 4:8 ). If believers will find more ways to display God's Christ-like love, then a plethora of wrongs will be smoothed over. 1 Peter 4:8 says, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."  How do we accomplish this Christ-like love on a daily basis? As a daily barometer, we replace the word "love/it" with our name in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 . Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices ...

Obedience to God is right and favored/blessed, but obedience is also resisted by the enemy of our souls, the world, and sometimes ourselves. In Mark 6:45-56 and John 6:16-24 there is an account recorded of the disciples obeying Christ but meeting resistance. The resistance came from "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" (Eph. 2:2) and communal fear. In Other Words... a wicked storm and fear of a Ghost In The Storm. Pulling from both accounts but leaning on the Mark 6 version, we observe first that "Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to Bethsaida,..." I believe we can safely deduce that it was at this point, right after the Feeding of the Five Thousand, a command was given in which obedience followed. Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. (Mark 6:45) After dismissing the crowd Jesus found one of His favorite solitary places - a mountainsid...