Continuing in Matthew 14
When the boat left the shore for the other side there were twelve disciples in the boat. While Peter was out walking on the water, where were the other eleven? You guessed it. They were in the boat. They didn’t get wet, didn’t get stretched, weren’t water walkers. They were observers, shore watchers. They never experienced what Peter experienced. Those sitting in the boat missed the growth opportunity to experience that strong hand of Jesus coming to their rescue, increasing their faith, preparing them for their next step up. The whole experience was second hand to them. Is that the life you want? Do you want to walk on water or settle for watching others? The tragedy isn’t that Peter began to sink, it was that eleven disciples missed the opportunity to grow and have an experience of a lifetime. If I am going to sink, Lord please let it be while I am out walking on water not sitting in the boat.
While the conversation in Matthew 14 is between Jesus and Peter, the invitation was to “Come.” It wasn’t “Come Peter.” No specific name was called. Yet only one came. The scripture gives an account in John 11:43 of Jesus calling Lazarus out of the grave. I have heard it said that had Jesus not specifically called Lazarus by name all the dead would have come forth. I wonder if the other eleven thought, as often we do, the invitation didn’t apply to them?
Could it be that they were waiting for the one next to them to make a move? Are you willing to move even if it is a party of two; Jesus and you? Is the “what you gotta want, what you gotta need” bigger than staying with the herd? Don’t get me wrong, I am all for being with a herd but you can’t allow your love for a herd to override the Lords invitation to come. When that occurs, Lordship has changed hands. Never should your love for the herd find you sitting in a boat of compromise. Sometimes the invitation requires we leave the herd that stays in the boat to join the herd that is stepping out.
Could it be that the disciples, who were left behind in the boat, needed the whole picture before they would move. Sometimes it’s that “no risk guarantee” that we are waiting for. We sit making a list and setting the terms and conditions to Gods invitation. It ends up looking like God if you will …..then I will.… Walking on water will always require us to take the risk and buy into trusting God with the outcome. It will test everything we believe or at least reveal to us what we don’t. This quote by John A. Shedd is very fitting, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”
When Jesus and Peter got in the boat the wind stopped. All the opposition ceased. Peter won the battle. The victory was always his but he had to get out of the boat to realize it. I hope that you are beginning to realize that too.
With everyone back in the boat they all worshipped Jesus saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” The eleven worshipped because of what they saw but Peter worshipped because of what he experienced.
Don’t pull back. Your next step is not to sit in the boat and watch others experience water walking. That is not what you were built for. Take the step. God will direct you. Allow God to surround you with the herd that will encourage you to keep stepping up once you have stepped out. Ask Him to surround you with really high steppers that challenge you to be the water walker you are called to be. And who knows, those high steppers may actually turn out to be the very eleven that chose to sit in the boat to begin with, but, because of your influence, they were able to step out and become water walkers just like you.
And that’s a wrap.
Lead the race, set the pace, no compromise. Be the ONE that leads others to Reset.
Recent Comments