Walk On Water

"And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
~Matthew 14:28-32


It takes faith in what you're doing to step out of what is comfortable to do something that might bring great success, or see you fall flat of your face. Part of the thrill of success is the margin of defeat. If you're old enough to remember ABCs Wide World of Sports, you've heard host Jim McKay say,  "Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports... the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition..." We all remember when McKay said, "agony of defeat," how the skier, Vinko Bogataj, slid down the ramp, only to slide of the edge and fall into the crowd below. Why did he miss his opportunity of victory? Probably for the same reason many of us do -- we take our eyes off the focal point. Even if it's only for a split second, it can be enough to send us off the edge.
In the verse for today, Peter sees Jesus walking on water, and although the disciples first thought they were seeing a ghost, Peter was brave enough to step out of the boat. He walked on the raging sea toward Jesus, but what happened next? He took his focus off Jesus and looked at the water being violently blown about by the wind. It probably took no longer than a breath for doubt to flash through his mind before he found himself sinking. How many times have we done the same thing?

"So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (Hebrews 13:6)." 

There is so much going on in our lives that take our focus off Jesus, even the little things. I recently realized how much of my time was going to unnecessary activities like Facebook, playing games on my phone, or being too tired at the end of the day to anything but curl up in front of the TV until I fell asleep. These might seem like minor distractions but how much of that time could I dedicated to prayer or Bible study?

The Bible tells us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17); how can I pray if my focus is on a screen in front me while I diligently pop bubbles to set baby bunnies free? I'm not saying there's anything wrong with taking some time to relax and unwind; we just have to remember what is most important in our lives. If our priority isn't Jesus, we are going to lose our focus , and like Peter, we'll find ourselves sinking.

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15)."

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Leviticus 16-18

A Year of Blessings by Marie McGaha ©2018