Do you remember when I wrote “faith is a verb and an action word?” Well, let’s go back
in time and visit the scene where Jesus and the crew are engaged in the middle
of the sea.
We can see Jesus out on the water in the
midst of the turbulent sea extending His hand to Peter. Even in the crisis of
adversity, Christ could not avoid another “teaching moment” and He said to
Peter,
“Be
of good cheer; it is I. Do not be afraid. And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You
on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of
the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he
was afraid;
and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind
ceased. Then those who were in the boat came
and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
(Matthew 14:24-33)
Jesus just got finished
telling Peter that it was Him out on the water and not to be afraid. Then Peter
did the unthinkable. He asked Jesus, “Lord,
if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” Can you imagine Peter being so paralyzed with
fear that He couldn’t even recognize Jesus’ voice? Only one guy moved when
Jesus said, “Come.” Only one! If the others had any faith at all,
they all would have jumped off the boat to meet Jesus in the sea. One of the
many things we learned from this story is that the overwhelming majority
of people can’t hear.
“O
you of little faith” is a searing indictment against the individual. I submit
to you that “little faith” is not synonymous with “no faith” but, rather,
“little faith” is worse than having “no faith” at all.
If you accept His Crown, you must
accept His Cross!
