Proximity's Peril

📖Scripture: “Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’” - Luke 5:5

🔎Reflection: Peter’s initial response to Jesus reveals a simple, radical obedience rooted not in familiarity but in awe. Yet as your sermon emphasized, the longer Peter walked “around” Jesus, the more presumptuous and self-confident he became—rebuking Christ (Matt 16:22), denying Him (Luke 22:54-62). Scripture repeatedly warns that familiarity breeds contempt (cf. Gen 3; Lev 10; 1 Sam 2:12-17; Jonah 1).

Contemporary Christianity often mimics Peter’s drift—substituting proximity to religious things for authentic submission to the Lordship of Christ. But the Bible never equates spiritual experiences, consumer-driven worship, or private piety with authentic surrender and salvation. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Keeping those commandments is not a burdensome chore for those who truly love Him, for as Jesus said, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt 11:30). True faith is demonstrated in persevering obedience (Deut 13:3), not passing feelings (1 John 2:3-6). Our devotion to Christ as members of His Body & Bride must thus mirror Peter’s early humility: “Because You say so.”

🤺Action: Ask the LORD to examine your heart (Ps 139:23) and test your life (2 Cor 13:5) to determine if you are truly obeying Christ’s WORD and God's will... even when it contradicts personal preferences, family traditions, or nostalgic customs. Ask the LORD to help you determine if your assurance of salvation is rooted in the objective truth, reality, and revelation of God’s WORD, or whether you are merely comfortably familiar because you’ve been “around” Christianity and your version of Jesus for a very long time? Where the Holy Spirit convicts… repent and submit your life, which no longer belongs to you (1 Cor 6:20), but fully to Christ Jesus. That’s true baptism… “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

🙏Prayer: LORD Jesus, strip away all the smackings of spiritual familiarity in my life. Renew my mind through your WORD. Please give me more than a comfortable familiarity or even a trembling reverence for Your WORD. Help me obey, not because it suits me, but because You say so. Please conform my heart and transform my mind to joyful surrender as an active member of Your family.

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https://youtube.com/shorts/UdV1hux3STk?feature=shared

Blessings & love,

Kevin M. Kelley

Pastor

BigIslandChristianChurch.com