Sometimes it seems like Peter gets a bad rap. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he certainly puts his foot in his mouth a good bit and definitely makes mistakes. He does at least act though. He never sits back and watches the action, he is always an active participant. Let’s look at one such occasion in Matthew 14 together today.

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”29 “Come,” he said.Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Peter may fall down into the water but I don’t see any of the other disciples getting out of the boat. It’s not like there are 11 other guys standing there next to Jesus on top of the water. They are sitting there afraid of the storm in the security of the boat. What they don’t realize is that it’s safer with Jesus on the water than it is inside the boat. Peter does the right thing by leaving the boat and walking to Jesus. Like many of us Peter sees the “winds” of life and gets afraid and loses sight of Jesus. The thing is the storms of life aren’t nearly as bad when our gaze is fixed on Jesus. It’s when we lose that focus that life can get overwhelming. Jesus reaches out and grabs Peter and steps into the boat and immediately the winds are calmed. We could all use a little more of Peter’s spirit to step out of the boat in faith and fix our gaze on Jesus.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave