The Christian walk can be a difficult thing to define, but I think, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, it all comes down to three words: Faith, Hope and Love. This week, we're breaking down the first aspect of real Christianity:
Christians aren't known as "Believers" for nothing. We're not only called to trust that God exists, but also to surrender our entire lives to Christ, and, sometimes, to take a huge leap of faith, being sure of nothing except that God will catch us.
Whenever I think about Faith, the story at the end of Matthew 14 (starting at verse 22) comes to mind, when Jesus calls Peter to walk on the water with Him. When Peter first sees Jesus walking on the lake, his heart is full of faith, and he can hardly suppress his excitement to step out of the boat. He follows the call, and sets foot on the water. But he's barely taken two steps when he sees the waves and the wind, and loses heart. Jesus is standing right in front of him, but somehow, the waves seem bigger than God, and the creation seems stronger than the Creator. At that moment, Peter begins to sink.
This reminds me so much of me. When I feel God moving in my heart, I can't wait for that call to walk on the water. But when life takes hold again, I begin to think about all that could go wrong, and it's so much easier to just stay in the boat.
Jesus had a lot to say about walking by faith, and not by sight. Instead of living in light of the waves that we can see, God calls us to walk in the Light that we can't see. When we do, He can work miracles.....
Matthew 17:20
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly, I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.'"
Matthew 21:21
Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to this fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.'"
I think it's interesting that Matthew mentions these words twice. Jesus put a huge emphasis on how Christians are to walk in God's strength and not their own. By ourselves, we are never going to be able to move mountains. The waves will overtake us, and we will drown. But when we walk in God's strength, the impossible can happen. As David writes continually in Psalms, God is the source of our strength. I think that another important part of faith is acknowledging that, in our own strength, we are not good enough. The waves will knock us down, and we will never be able to recover. But when we genuinely put our trust in God, we can let go of our own strength, and rely completely on God's. And His strength will NEVER disappoint us.
Jesus had a lot to say about walking by faith, and not by sight. Instead of living in light of the waves that we can see, God calls us to walk in the Light that we can't see. When we do, He can work miracles.....
Matthew 17:20
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly, I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.'"
Matthew 21:21
Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to this fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.'"
I think it's interesting that Matthew mentions these words twice. Jesus put a huge emphasis on how Christians are to walk in God's strength and not their own. By ourselves, we are never going to be able to move mountains. The waves will overtake us, and we will drown. But when we walk in God's strength, the impossible can happen. As David writes continually in Psalms, God is the source of our strength. I think that another important part of faith is acknowledging that, in our own strength, we are not good enough. The waves will knock us down, and we will never be able to recover. But when we genuinely put our trust in God, we can let go of our own strength, and rely completely on God's. And His strength will NEVER disappoint us.
God calls us to walk a difficult path, but He says, I will be right there with you. What I'm calling you to do is going to hurt, but I will be by your side. You may be walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, but I will never leave you. This world may hate you. It may tear you down, take away everything you treasure, and it may even destroy you because of me, but fear not; I have overcome the world, and I took the full force of the blows this world throws at you, when I was hanging on the cross for your sake. I love you, and I am calling you to come walk out on the water with me, you of little faith. I know you're scared. I know you can't do it by yourself, but you are never alone, because I am with you always, even to the very end of the age. Just put your trust me. I will never fail you.
So why stay in our boats, when we could be moving mountains?
So why stay in our boats, when we could be moving mountains?
"And now these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love..." -1 Corinthians 13:13
3 comments:
Awesome! Love the last sentence you leave us with. Very powerful!
Thanks, Olivia!
This post was really confronting to write. I think the hardest part for me is that, even when we do step out on the water, the waves still hit us. And, even if they can't take us down, they still hurt. I had a firsthand experience with this a couple weeks ago, when God called me to take a step out on the water.... the results of doing that haven't exactly been enjoyable. Waves hurt. A lot.
Any thoughts?
Waves do hurt! There's no doubt about that. But for Christians, we can always rest in the fact that His grace is sufficient for us and that His power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
God even says to rejoice in our sufferings! We know that the testing of our faith produces perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything! (James 1:2-4)
All Christians will have to go through waves, I know I have! I also know that the waves are not finished for me. There will be many times when the waves come crashing into me. But when that happens, I can know, and so can you, that our God will never leave us nor forsake us! (Hebrews 13:5)
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