Religion - Holding our Heads above water

On Wednesday we looked at Matthew Chapter 14. The part that struck me was near the end of the chapter when the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water. The disciples likely found this amazing and definitely very cool. Peter asked Jesus if he could try it. Jesus told him to come.

While this verse is often discussed in church, when I read it again this time I had a little bit different understanding of what took place. Peter stepped out into the water and he really did it, he walked on water. However, the winds came, Peter became afraid and he began to sink. Jesus had to rescue him. As He did, Jesus said "You of little faith. Why do you doubt?" Yet Peter did not sink immediately. Peter initially stepped out of the boat and walked on the water. Just by stepping out of the boat Peter demonstrated tremendous faith. Then, as Jesus says over and over throughout scripture, it was done to Peter according to his faith. His faith held him there on top of the water. His faith combined with the power of Jesus was defying the laws of physics. So, why did he sink? Why did Peter lose faith? The wind came.

I think what happened to Peter was not as much as loss of faith as a lack of focus on his faith. It wasn't as if Peter made a conscious decision that Jesus could not hold him on that water anymore. In fact, it would seem that Peter should have had even more belief that he could walk on the water because he had already done it. He just lost his focus. As Peter stepped out onto the boat, he was probably thinking "it's just you and me Lord; through you I can do all things!" He was totally focused on Jesus and excited to be a part of the life of Jesus and His miracles. He walked on the water. Then he heard the wind. I can picture his head turning. It had previously been looking straight ahead at Jesus, now it was searching for something that cannot be seen. He looked toward the sounds of the wind and began to wonder "what's this wind going to do to me, will I sink?" At that moment he did sink because he doubted. Something in the world grabbed his attention and took his focus and trust off Jesus and immediately he was in trouble.

Lives of Christians are similar. It's not that at times we do not believe in Jesus and in His power, it's that we lose focus. There are so many things going on in our world that it is hard to keep our focus and trust on Jesus. We worry about the potential dangers and problems in our lives and that worry holds our faith and trust captive. When things go wrong for us we may ask where Jesus where He was. His response may be to ask us where our faith was, where was our focus? We learn many lessons through our struggles. The one lesson that Peter learned here and that we may need to learn is that in times of stress and worry if a person focuses on the danger and not on God, Jesus may not hold you above the water. Over and over Jesus says, "Be it done according to your faith." What's the first thing you think of in a moment of crisis? Is it on you figuring out a way to resolve the crisis yourself? That's usually mine. Is it "please God, can you help me get through this?" I would say it should be "Thank you God, because I KNOW you will see me through any situation. See me through this one. Take the lead." After thinking that, then you may go about trying to resolve the problem with the guide of the Holy Spirit.

God Bless,