So, I’ve been married for a little under 2 months now to my beautiful wife Ashley. She is talented, smart, funny and knows me better than anyone else. Her heart and compassion for people is unbelievable – she always tries to approach every person and love them the way Jesus loved.
I’ve known Ashley since 2004, and I must say that I’m still learning so much about her now that we’re married. It’s funny how, before we got married, we thought we knew so much about each other and what it would be like to be married. Man, were we wrong!
I’m quickly finding that I really don’t know that much about being married and I’m constantly in need of forgiveness and grace. Our best intentions and plans going into marriage aren’t enough. We’re always seeing the need to seek the Truth so that God can bring us back to what He intends our marriage to be.
Last week, Ashley and I planned a day just to hang out and relax. We didn’t have any specific plans and didn’t have much money to spend, but set out to find something to do. We ended up going to the 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, which I highly recommend checking out if you ever get a chance…plus it’s free.
After checking out the 21c and eating an early dinner, we got back in the car. As we got in, I mentioned to Ashley “Let’s just head home and hang out there the rest of the evening…maybe we could even play video games together?” Ashley must have heard the wishfulness (is that even a word) in my voice, as she agreed and said that sounded like fun.
Success!
After we had been in the car for about a minute or so, something happened. I’m sure many men before who have entered into marriage before me have experienced something similar to this, and I’m almost certain that all women know this tactic.
As we were driving along, I was overjoyed that we’d be spending an evening playing Modern Warfare 2 together. Then Ashley said, in her softest, sweetest voice
“You know what we could do? We could go to Home Goods and look for some artwork for our apartment! It wouldn’t take that long! Then we can go home and play video games.”
Now, as I said, I’m sure every man who has entered marriage before me has heard his wife speak the words “It wouldn’t take that long.” Being young in my married life, I didn’t realize the implications of this statement, but as the pastor I work for always tells me about home improvement projects, “It’s never as easy as it seems.”
Long story short, we spent the rest of the evening buying and hanging up artwork around our apartment. By the time we finished, we were exhausted and neither one of us felt like playing video games.
My best intentions and plans for the evening of playing video games had been replaced by doing something that my wife wanted to do instead. My ideas for an evening of doing something I wanted to do were replaced by something that put me in the position of serving my wife.
Which is exactly what I needed to be doing.
It’s interested how this story parallels so many other areas of my life. So often, I think I’ve come up with a great plan, and I have a great vision for my life, yet God sees something greater for which He wants to use me. And I think we can all find ourselves in this position.
We can have the best plans and all of the best intentions in mind, yet God has something else for us. When we’re in an honest pursuit of the Truth, He always seems to bring us back around to the plans He set us apart to carry out.
Peter is a great example of a person that, in his humanity, had all of the best plans and intentions in mind, yet God called Him to something greater. Jesus had called Peter to leave everything behind – his plans, hopes, wishes, dreams, intentions – and follow Him to fulfill a better purpose. And Peter did just that…
…for a while.
However, we find in Luke 5, Peter (who is referred to as Simon) has gone back to his original career of fishing. He had seen Jesus cast out demons, and heal the sick and broken. He had been present when Jesus turned water into wine. He had been a direct eyewitness to these unbelievable miracles, and had gotten a taste of God’s glory which had been revealed through Jesus.
And yet, Peter chose to go back to fishing, which raises a question. Why?
Maybe Peter was just hungry so he went fishing to get something to eat. Or perhaps he enjoyed fishing, so he went out for fun. Maybe he needed money and fishing was what he knew how to do to make a little dough. While Peter may have gone back to fishing for any one of these reasons, one thing is clear: Peter went back to relying on his own intentions and plans. He had become distracted from the life Jesus called Him to and went back to what he was doing before.
But then Jesus does something amazing.
After fishing all night, Peter came back empty handed. That’s right, they caught nothing. Then Jesus comes on the scene. Luke 5:4 tells us that Jesus instructed Peter to “Put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.” When Peter follows Jesus and does as he instructs, he “caught such a large number of fish” that their nets couldn’t contain them and began to break! (Luke 5:6)
So here’s Peter, the professional fisherman–turned Christ follower–turned professional fisherman. He finds that his best intentions and plans have fallen short of the mark, and his efforts haven’t produced any fish. But when he honestly seeks the Truth, that is when he follows Jesus instruction to push back out and try again, even the nets of a professional fisherman couldn’t contain the reward.
Peter had found what so many of you may have found in your own lives. He found what I’ve found in my life. That is when your best plans and intentions fall short, as they inevitably do, you’re in need of forgiveness and grace. I know this truth becomes more and more evident to me daily, especially in my marriage.
So what is our response to this reliance upon grace?
Like Peter, we have to accept it. We have to honestly seek the Truth and allow Jesus to redefine our lives in a way that will exceed every expectation we ever had. We have to let Jesus show us how to push back out and let our nets down. When we do this, we will find that God has a far great purpose for us in life than our best intentions and plans could ever give.
So here’s the challenge: Honestly seek the Truth that is Jesus, being evermore reliant on forgiveness and grace, so that God can bring you back to what He intends your life to be.
