Between Sinking and Saving

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

2 CMatthew 14:29-30 (NIV)

The story of Peter walking on the water is not about failure or fear. It is about the reality of faith’s growing process. This is how faith grows. It’s how faith exercises. This is how faith increases endurance. This is how faith builds capacity.

You don’t grow faith sitting on the boat where it’s expected of you to stay up on the water, speculating about Jesus and hoping to occasionally get it right. No, you grow faith because you take bold steps to see how much your belief in Him has created capacity for you. You get out there on what your imagination had invited you to consider.

But when reality hits, challenge comes, and the wind blows, you start to see that the conditions around you don’t care that you have trusted Jesus. The wind doesn’t die down simply because you’re being creative and starting to think big. The storm doesn’t cease because you asked Jesus to do something bold.

The things which limit you, scare you, frustrate you, cripple you, and restrict you have a vested interest in keeping you on that boat. And when you step out of that boat, they aren’t going anywhere; they are going to test you and distract you while you’re out there trying this big thing you asked the Lord for.

And true to form, when these windy realities are successful, you sink. But hear me about this: even when we have faith in Christ, life is lived between the sinking and the saving.

Don’t refuse to try just because sinking may happen. You are in a relationship with the Christ who can save you when you sink. It’s not about your sinking, but about your faith.

In other words, faith is perfectly okay with your failures. But what is not okay is your living with too little confidence to take the big step.

So recognize that you will have adversity. Recognize that you will have times of sinking. Recognize that you will need to call out to Jesus to save you. And then take the step out of the boat and move closer to the Savior.