The Internal Clock

I had a nice conversation with a very good friend in our hometown yesterday.  At one point he asked how we were doing and I mentioned that my internal clock was still on West Coast time.  I explained how I have been surprised almost every day since we’ve been here when I look at the clock late in the day and realize that it is around six o’clock.  To me it feels as though it is two or three in the afternoon.  His joking comment back to me was simply to throw away that clock!

I was reminded of my internal clock again this morning as I sought to discover what Jesus had been doing previous to His and Peter’s experience of walking on the water.  In the narrative we find out that Jesus had just received the news concerning the death of His cousin John (the Baptist).  Justifiably He was feeling deep sorrow and needed to be by Himself, so He went off to a quiet or desert place to pray.  What happened next though was quite interesting as the crowds figured out where He was going and met Him there.

This is where the internal clock idea kicked in.  When Jesus saw the needful crowds Matthew 14:14 relates, “when Jesus disembarked, he saw great multitudes; and He had compassion on them, and healed their sick.” (James Murdock New Testament) It seems that what was inside Jesus overrode His personal need for respite and compelled Him to feel great compassion for the people in the crowd and minister to their needs.

It was like how my internal clock causes me to look at the actual time and forcefully turn the dials inside of me to the right time for our new lives within the Eastern Daylight Time Zone!  The difference being that Jesus did not force a change in His own internal direction, but yielded to it so that He could do “all things that I have heard of my Father…” (John 15:15 KJV)

I like that idea… to be so in tune to the Father’s kingdom that when needs arise your internal clock or the inner state of your heart automatically directs your actions!  Think about that.  No more mood swings, no more words thoughtlessly spoken that you wish you hadn’t uttered on the spur of an emotional moment, but only actions that are driven by the love and mercy or grace of Christ in you.

Robertson’s Word Pictures explains that the verb translated compassion “gives the oriental idea of the bowels as the seat of compassion” or maybe better said, as the center of God’s love and mercy inside us.  Isn’t that the way that you would like to automatically respond to the daily pressures of life… no matter how complicated, surprising or difficult they may be?  I know that it is for me.

I believe that Jesus also gave us the key to this kind of reaction when He spoke to Peter after pulling him out of the depths of the waves and asked: “Why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:13 KJV)  According to the original Greek, Jesus was actually asking Peter why he had become double minded at the sight of the boisterous waves.  He was instructing Peter that when a similar situation came up again, that it would behoove him to keep his eyes on only one thing, and that being Jesus and His Word!

Hummm,,, sounds like good advice to me!  So have a great day.  I would encourage you to take a moment and look inside to see what your internal clock is set on and make sure that the time is set on Jesus’ Kingdom Standard Time!  Keep in tune to God’s Word and keep asking yourself… “What or Whom am I expecting today?”