Are We Still Christians In The Evening?

By Odon Bulamba (2nd August 2002)

John 6:16-21. “When evening came His disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. But He said to them, it is I; don’t be afraid. Then they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading”.

This is a story of Jesus with His disciples. Jesus had just finished feeding 5000 men and decided to go across to the other side of the lake, so his disciples jumped into the boat because they were tired. It was evening time when they started rowing and as they were rowing the wind picked up, and then they saw something walking on water.
Evening time is very important for us Christians. In the morning we feel refreshed and strengthened, but as the day goes on our bodies become tired. At 5pm it is rush hour for everyone, nobody smiles, nobody forgives and nobody wants to help you. I don’t know what the reason is but everybody becomes angry especially on the road, and even though you smiled at work, everything will change for you at 5pm. When you arrive home usually you want to attend to your families needs, watch the news and all those things, but before you blink it is time for bed. So did you get the opportunity to go over your day? What did you do to glorify your God? What did you do to glorify yourself? What did you do that offended your God and others?

We all have a diary to plan our day, but we never write in our diaries what we do in the evening. We must have an appointment with our God in the evening, we think of our children and our stomachs but we often forget about God. This is what the disciples did. They worked with Jesus during the day but when evening came they became tired and decided to go without Jesus across to the other side of the lake.

Joshua has the same name as Jesus, and when the Israelites were at war Joshua asked God not to let the sun go down, and the bible says that the sun stayed still for three days so they could keep on fighting. The disciples forgot that Jesus had the power to stop the evening, and they forgot that Jesus created the day and the night. How many times are we bored with each other? How many times do we sin without knowing it? How many times do you think that the preacher takes too long? Jesus’ disciples were tired that evening so they got into a boat and forgot about Jesus.

Sometimes our bodies are like a boat; we row our boat (body) and forget that Jesus has the right to lead our bodies. You can row you boat for 3 years and still be in the same place doing nothing for the glory of God. When the wind (problems) is too strong only then do we start thinking about God, and then our God becomes a God of problems and not a God of glory. When we are filled with our own feelings we forget about God’s presence and we follow our own will.

The evening is the last step in our lives. In the evening everybody is furious on the roads and Christians are like this today. They don’t love, they are not patient and they don’t respect. They only think of themselves and forget about their commitment to Jesus when they said to Him, my life is in you Lord. When Jesus was crucified everybody wanted His clothes, why? What was so important about His clothes? Think about it.

This same Jesus was the One who walked on the lake, so is this technology? The disciples were afraid when they saw Jesus, not because He was God but they thought He was a ghost. So how many times do we fear sorcerers instead of fearing God? How many times do we fear robbers more then God?

One day I drove past a house with a lot of gang members hanging around outside. My friend feared for his life because these gang members didn’t like black people. So I asked him, why do you fear death my brother, if we die here it will be for the glory of God and we will benefit from it. If you looked at them you could see a devilish power in them, and I started thinking that if we feared God like my friend feared these men, it would be good for us.

When you open your Bibles you will see that there are no gaps between the verses, and it is like this because God wants to reminds us every second about what we should do. The disciples thought they saw a ghost but it was Jesus, and this is a shame for us Christians; we are afraid of this world but not afraid of our God. We are afraid for our physical lives but not for our spiritual lives, and if you tell a Christian that his soul is dead, he won’t care but if the doctor tells him in two weeks he will die, he’ll try anything to stay alive. So why don’t we want to keep eternal life?

The disciples crossed over to the other shore and met Jesus there, so when you leave your shore to cross over to another shore, will you meet Jesus there? The Bible says that the water is the Word of God. When we leave the Word of God to walk on the earth (that is our bodies) we still have this grace because Jesus will be there waiting for us, but one day Jesus won’t be there. The Bible says that everyone will look for the gospel one day and will not find it.

When you arrive on the other shore you have to leave your boat to go home, so you must know that one day you will leave your body to be somewhere else. Whether you are tall or short, remember that you must leave your body to meet Jesus Christ somewhere else, but woe to us Christians who don’t respect Jesus Christ, woe to us who plan our working day but in the evening don’t plan anything because of tiredness. The Bible says that the end is better than the beginning so we must do our best to work in these last days. This is how we must prepare ourselves for Jesus’ return.

Many people on this earth are going through difficult situations and forget that the life they have is not their’s. The life Paul has does not belong to Paul, but God gave him life so that he could produce something good for God. So who can sleep when you have to give an account to God? When a student takes out a loan they have to sign for it, and once they finish their studies they have to pay it back with interest whether they like it or not.

God gave us life and we also have to give this life back with interest, and if you don’t pay it back you will be condemned. It means that you can’t justify yourself by telling God you couldn’t preach the gospel because you didn’t have a car, or you lost your glasses and couldn’t read the Bible. God will tell you that the disabled and the blind read the gospel, so who do you think is better, a blind man or you? A blind man learns to read with his fingers but you have a grace because you can read with eyes. The Bible says that it is better to cut out your eye if it prevents you from entering the kingdom of God. It would be a blessing if you could cut off your anger or lies to inherit the kingdom of God, and if you lack forgiveness cut off what stops you from forgiving so you can enter God’s kingdom. Jesus is walking in His Word (water) right now and if we see Him as a monster and not as God woe to us, because many Christians today have doubts about their belief.