Peter, Peter!

I do enjoy Peter. He’s so much like most Christians I’ve known. When we’re good, we’re very, very good. But when we mess up, it’s a doozy.

Maybe we like him because he was a working man. Not one of the Pharisees, not a publican, but still a man of substance, at least part owner of a fishing ship. Perhaps he was much as his ship – sturdy, capable, sustaining.

Like us, he wanted a sign from God: And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. (Matthew 14:28 KJV)

Aren’t we just as Peter was? “If you’re real …” and what is it we decided would be the proof? For Peter, it was just to hear His voice saying “Come.”

And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. (Matthew 14:29 KJV)

Many of us respond to His call. For a while we, too, are capable of faith sufficient to uphold us. Within a few feet, though, we realize that we cannot sustain ourselves. We cannot do it alone. Why did we ever think we could do it at all? Peter reached that conclusion very quickly.

But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. (Matthew 14:30 KJV)

As long as he was focused on reaching Christ, Peter walked on the water. Once he noticed things around him, distracting him, requiring that he consider alternatives, he was afraid. Once afraid, he began to sink.

Then he did something a lot of us refuse to do -- he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? (Matthew 14:31 KJV)

Where do we get that faith?

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17 KJV)

Why do we need that faith?

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8 KJV)