“Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ ‘Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said. 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!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’ And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.” – Matthew 14:25-33
Peter had a choice when he decided to follow Jesus out of the boat and onto the water. He could look to Christ and do an extraordinary act of walking on the water as he fixed his eyes on the One he walked towards who kept him from sinking or he could drown by focusing on the deep sea around him. Knowing Christ approves of you and that you are looking to him for strength gives you courage to take on the things you didn’t know you could accomplish. You think if somebody had told Peter at a young age that one day he would walk on water that he would have believed them? I’m going to guess, probably not. But the great thing is when we look to Christ, he can use us to do monumental tasks.
Now look and see what happened to poor Peter though. As soon as he started focusing on his current circumstance instead of Christ, he began to sink. Of course when he realized that he had taken his eyes of his Protector he cried out for mercy and Jesus caught him. How often do we as Christian men lose sight of what we should be doing in our walk with God? Daily we must choose to look to Christ to sustain us as we put our hope, faith, and trust in him to keep us from sinking into the abyss of our life’s challenging circumstances. It’s a daily choice we must consciously choose to seek Christ’s power and strength in our life to accomplish big things that are far too complex for our ability alone. Men, let this story inspire you to step out of your comfort zone and do bigger things in this life! Don’t get comfortable with just existing. Satan has so many of us Christians living in a comfort zone and what God really wants is for us to stretch out to do more with our lives. After all, God isn’t all that concerned about our comfort and we should never feel too comfortable living in this world of evil. We are to be missionaries in this foreign land preparing the way for others to know Christ as we long for our home in Heaven. This world is not our home! We are ambassadors for a greater calling and purpose, men. Don't fall into this false sense of comfort and walk blindly through life. God wants more from us as his children and leaders. We have a huge responsibility to lead others as men of God and live a faith-filled, God-centered walk each day. What a challenge! It's possible though if we keep looking to Christ!
Men, look at this passage and notice that Christ said at the beginning, “Take Courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” The reason we can accomplish extraordinary feats in our lives is because we focus all of our attention on Christ who will use us to accomplish things we never thought possible in this lifetime. You think the courageous men of the Bible or the men you hear about today that go on to do huge things for our Lord ever thought it was possible to accomplish such great tasks? No, but they put their faith in the Lord and he lead them though life to complete huge tasks. He uses imperfect, small men who have extraordinary faith in him. We need to do our part men to accomplish what God has put before us today as we put your complete faith in Christ. Then, we can watch what he can accomplish through our faith-filled existence! Why doubt, men? God wants to use us to accomplish his mission to reach others with his love and give our life purpose and meaning. Every day we can look at the deep sea around us or we can fix our eyes on Christ to lead us across our circumstances to what he wants for us as our faith grows in him, not ourselves, and to keep us from going through the motions of being a comfortable Christian. Are you too comfortable in this life, men? Has life gotten stale because you’re too concerned with yourself and what you want out of life? God is more concerned with stretching us and helping us grow. It is when we’re being stretched that we grow the most and experience blessings we never thought possible. Every obstacle and challenge in life is an opportunity to increase our faith and trust in him as we grow to new heights in our relationship with God Almighty.
If you’re waiting to have all the answers and waiting before you’re “perfect” to step out in faith, then you will never get anywhere. Faith is believing even when you can’t see.
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