stepping out of the boat

I've been thinking about Peter a lot lately...probably because I've been reading about Jesus walking on the water in Matthew. There is so much I have to learn about faith.

Everyone always talks about how much faith Peter had because he gets out of the boat. But the only problem with that is that the doubts that cause Pete to start sinking once he gets out of the boat are doubts that he had while in the boat. In the boat he says to Jesus "IF you are the Son of God..." (emphasis added). He still didn't quite believe that Jesus was the Son of God.

He had enough faith to climb out of the boat and walk a couple steps, but then his doubts caught up to him. If we have doubts to start with, they will eventually catch up to us. And God isn't a God of doubts. He chastises Peter for his little faith. "Why did you doubt?"

My life is in the air...I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know where I'll be in 6 months. But I do know that God is good, faithful and that His timing and plan is perfect.

It's like I'm in the boat right now, and Jesus is calling me to step out on the water with Him. But I don't want to step out until I know that I have no doubts. That's the problem.

Because just like jumping off a cliff into a lake and jumping off a platform 47 meters in the air with nothing more than a glorified rubber band around your legs, you don't actually know if you have no doubts until you have jumped and have done what you set out to do. I don't know if I have no doubts until my faith comes under trial. Peter didn't know the extent of his faith until he tested it.

So...I'm stepping out of the boat, and trusting in the one who is already walking on the water.

Peace.

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