My Utmost for His Highest - April 17th - Neck or Nothing

Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved *said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea. - John 21:7

    Have you ever had a crisis in which you deliberately and emphatically and recklessly abandoned everything? It is a crisis of will. You may come up to it many times externally, but it amounts to nothing. The real deep crisis of abandonment is reached internally, not externally. The giving up of external things may be an indication of being in total bondage.

 
    Have you deliberately committed your will to Jesus Christ? It is a transaction of will, not of emotion; the emotion is simply the gilt-edge of the transaction. If you allow emotion first, you will never make the transaction. Do not ask God what the transaction is to be, but make it in regard to the thing you do see, either in the shallow or the profound place.

    If you have heard Jesus Christ's voice on the billows, let your convictions go to the winds, let your consistency go to the winds, but maintain your relationship to Him.

From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

- Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition. 

My thoughts

The context of this verse from John is some of the disciples in a boat fishing. Jesus stood on the beach, the shore. Peter sees Jesus on the shore and hears his command to them to throw their net on the other side of the boat as they were not catching any fish. Upon seeing Jesus, Peter jumps from the boat to get to Jesus. 

Thus, in this passage is Jesus calling Peter, but Jesus also is calling me often. Do I run to Him because it is Him or do I wait for an emotion that will incite me to go towards Him? Do I do what He calls or do I wait for an explanation or to be properly equipped or educated? I must approach Him out of a transaction of my will. Hear Jesus calling and go to Him, without delay. My relationship is with Him.