by Andy Kaser
It’s so easy to see the ‘bad’ in a story. It’s pretty easy for me to remember the dumb moves that a Bible hero made. It pretty much marks them for life, or in their case, thousands of years!
Take for example Peter. I call Him ‘pipe up Peter’ because on numerous occasions he was quick to speak and slow to listen. In today’s passage we find Peter about to do something that no one has ever done before (except Jesus of course). Think about it, in this story he sets a record…he makes history. It’s a feat that has never been done since. He walks on water.
The reality is we can focus on his rebuke or his faith. No doubt he took one for the team, because his mistake in the story allows us all to learn a valuable lesson about trusting Jesus.
I invite you to pause and read the story in Matthew 14:22-36. So what did you think? I guess I’d just like us not to consider his incredible faith to ‘get out of the boat.’ No one else jumped in the water. No one else had a fraction of the faith that he had. No one else was as passionate about the embrace of Jesus as Peter was. So it begs a question for our soul. Are we missing out on chances to express our faith (albeit small)? Are we missing out on chances to passionately pursue Jesus because doing so is a huge risk? Are we so afraid of failure or shame that we never take a step into the unknown?
I think there is more tragedy in times we fail to move than in the times we move and fail. What if in the economy of God His measurement of joy is found in taking the first steps toward greatness, and not in how well we stood after taking that step? Don’t get me wrong. It matters how we finish. But it also matters that we have the faith and passion to take the step toward Jesus without knowing any of the answers prior to it.
Is Jesus asking you to come to Him? He is. And what really matters is that you get out of the boat.
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