Oakwood's Online Community

[chilledmac]

Friday, April 16, 2010

It was a windy night to be out on a boat, but they needed to get to the other side. With a windy night out on the water comes waves, so it was a pretty rough ride. One of the men in the boat caught glimpse of something out on the water. It looked like a man, but he knew better, as this person was not in a boat but appeared to be walking on the water. He thought it was a ghost!

As the man got closer, the other men in the boat also saw this person walking towards them on the water and they began to cry out in fear, that's when they heard his voice, telling them it was Jesus coming out to meet them and not to be afraid.

Have you heard the phrase, there is one in every crowd, well this phrase stands true here also, as Peter told this person claiming to be Jesus, that if it really was Him, to tell him to come towards him out of the boat.

Well, that is exactly what Jesus said to Peter, He told him to come. So Peter stands up and steps right out of the boat. And you know what, Peter began to walk on water towards Jesus. But, remember the wind and the waves? Well the waves got the best of Peter's fear and he began to sink. This made Peter very scared and he called out to Jesus to help him and that is exactly what Jesus did, He reached out His hand and helped him. But with this help also came a scolding, Jesus telling Peter that he had little faith.

This event comes from Matthew chapter 14, verses 22 through 33.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2014:%2022-33&version=NIV

I absolutely love this event! You see, we really need the bigger picture. Earlier Jesus just heard that His friend, John the Baptist, was killed by being beheaded. While Jesus was trying to find someplace to be alone to pray about John, over 5,000 people sought Him out for help. Jesus, despite His grief over John, tended to their needs, to the extent that he fed over 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, with left overs!

Once He fed these people, both in body and in soul, He sent them on their way, to include His disciples, which He sent them by boat to the other side of the sea of Galilee. Not until everyone was cared for did Jesus take time for Himself to grieve for John.

You see, this is what being a follower of Christ is all about, it is about taking care of the needs of others before ourselves. It is knowing that just because you only have a little, 5 loaves and 2 fish for over 5,000 people, Christ's mercy and love is sufficient to see you through any obstacle in life.

It was Peter's faith in Jesus that allowed him to walk on water in the first place, and it was Peter's doubt that caused him to sink. Despite this doubt, Christ was there to save him.

Let us not forget that Jesus called to Peter to step out of the boat. Christ knew Peter could walk on water! You know what, Jesus is calling you to step out of your boat as well. Our boats come in many different shapes and sizes and keep us from doing the things that Christ really wants us to do. Our boats keep us from walking on our own water! Christ knows you can do it, do you?

Do we doubt like Peter? Do we think we are insufficient? In every instance, let us never forget that where man fails, Christ succeeds. That through ourselves and by ourselves, it is a long dusty, lonely road. Only in Christ and through Christ can we ever hope to accomplish what is truly good and accomplish so much more with Him than with out Him.