Monday, June 27, 2011

Matthew 14:28-33

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28 Peter said to Him, ``Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.'' 29 And He said, ``Come!'' And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ``Lord, save me!'' 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said* to him, ``You of little faith, why did you doubt?'' 32 When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ``You are certainly God's Son!''

So, Jesus comes to the rescue of His disciples after sending them out on a mission to cross the Sea of Galilee on a boat. He came to save them by walking on the water. Peter was caught up in the excitement of seeing Jesus walking on the water and said to Jesus, "Lord, if this is really you, then command me to come to you on the water." Jesus did just that. He commanded Peter to "Come!" to Him.

Now, here's the real key! Jesus is not the only one who ever walked on water, because Peter did, too! Peter walked on water! He actually did it! He got out of the boat, walked on water and came toward Jesus! This is incredible! BUT while walking on the water toward Jesus, Peter took His eyes off Jesus.

1-He became distracted by the wind and subsequent waves. 2-He became frightened. 3-He began to sink.

Now, Peter is in a crisis and had to scream out for Jesus to save him! Jesus then took hold of Peter and saved him from drowning. Then Jesus rebuked Peter for doubting Jesus-for losing his focus on following the command of Jesus to come to Him by walking on water-for being distracted-for not trusting (not faithing) Jesus fully to keep him walking.

Doesn't this sound familiar? We are called to do something for God, we then become distracted by all of the circumstances around us and stop trusting Jesus fully in our mission. Jesus wants us to trust Him fully and totally! To quote a friend of mine, "This 'walking with Jesus' is the toughest thing I've ever tried to do!" It's not the walking alongside Jesus that causes the trouble. It's the "trusting" Him fully that is the problem. I have spent most of my life "doing things my way for God", when He was simply waiting for me to trust His lead, not lead out and asking Him to bless it. But it's so easy to pay too much attention to life's circumstances around me and allow those things to distract me away from the trusting.

We have made fun of Peter for years for being so impatient and impetuous, but Peter actually walked on water! I want to trust Jesus enough to be able to "walk on water." I want to experience that kind of trusting relationship with Jesus. How about you?

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